Two antimycotic agents, the azole ketoconazole and the allylamine terbinafine, have been examined for their effects on the metabolism of tolbutamide, ethinyloestradiol, cyclosporin and ethoxycoumarin by human liver microsomes (n = 4) in vitro. Ketoconazole caused marked inhibition of all enzyme activities with mean IC50 values (concentration producing 50% inhibition) of 17.9 microM (tolbutamide hydroxylase), 1.9 microM (ethinyloestradiol 2-hydroxylase), 2.0 microM (cyclosporin N-demethylase), 2.1 microM (cyclosporin hydroxylase) and 25 microM (ethoxycoumarin O-deethylase). At 50 microM terbinafine concentration, inhibition was less than 5% for tolbutamide and ethoxycoumarin, approximately 12% for both cyclosporin pathways and 35% for ethinyloestradiol. Terbinafine does not have the same inhibitory potential for cytochrome P-450 isozymes as ketoconazole.