Seventy patients with progressive multiple myeloma received combination chemotherapy with cyclophosphamide and prednisolone (CP), BCNU, cyclophosphamide, procarbazine and prednisolone (BCPP), and MCNU, cyclophosphamide, melphalan and prednisolone (MCMP) as first line treatment. Total remission rate in patients treated with CP, BCPP, and MCMP was 76.2%, 86.1%, and 91%, and complete response rate 26.1%, 33.3% and 63.7%, respectively, 5-yr survival in the patients treated with CP and BCPP regimen was 51.9 +/- 11.1%, 39.7 +/- 8.9%, respectively, however, the difference was not significant, 1-yr survival in the patients treated with MCMP was 91 +/- 8.7%. It was postulated that long-term survival or cure can only be anticipated if the treatments giving high CR rates was developed. The study, though preliminary, supports the notion that MCMP therapy should be used as primary standard treatment for patients with multiple myeloma.