The antitumor activity of a combination of paclitaxel (TXL) followed by nedaplatin (NDP) against SK-OV-3 human ovarian cancer was evaluated. We also compared the antitumor activity of TXL plus NDP with that of TXL plus carboplatin (CBDCA) or TXL plus cisplatin (CDDP). TXL was injected i.v. daily for four days and either NDP, CBDCA or CDDP was injected i.v. once after the TXL treatment, into tumor-bearing mice. The sequential administration of TXL prior to NDP resulted in enhanced inhibition of tumor growth in comparison with either TXL or NDP monotherapy. The combination in TXL plus NDP was synergistic and superior to that of TXL plus CDDP or TXL plus CBDCA therapy. Histological tests demonstrated that the fraction of BrdU-incorporated cells in tumor tissue was significantly inhibited by the combination of TXL with NDP. These results demonstrated the antitumor efficacy of TXL with NDP against human ovarian cancer and suggest the clinical effectiveness of combination of TXL with NDP.