Sixty-one patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer were randomly allocated to receive vindesine (3 mg/m2, day 1, 8, 15) plus either three cisplatins (35 mg/m2, day 1, 8, 15) or one cisplatin (80 mg/m2, day 1). Among the 61 patients, the number of complete cases treated by the former administration schedule (group A) was 24 and by the latter schedule (group B) was 27. The response rate of group A was 25.0% and that of group B was 22.2%. There was no significant difference between survival curves of group A and B. The median survival times of group A and B were 8.5 months and 7.5, respectively. Regarding the incidence rate of various side effects, no difference was found between the two groups. However, according to the WHO grade of side effects, nausea/vomiting in group A was significantly milder than in group B. The grade of leukopenia in group A showed a tendency to be milder than in group B. In conclusion, in terms of tumor response, vindesine plus three doses of cisplatin was no better than conventional vindesine plus cisplatin chemotherapy, however side effects of the former were slightly less severe.