Neuropathy and retinopathy are two potentially serious late complications of diabetes. There is accumulating evidence that the development of these conditions is closely related to increased activity of the polyol pathway, which occurs in certain tissues as a consequence of long term hyperglycaemia. Symptomatic diabetic neuropathy may appear as one of many forms and is frequently accompanied by pain. Diabetic retinopathy is a progressive degeneration of the retina that represents one of the major causes of blindness in the developed world. A good prognosis for either of these conditions is believed to rely on early diagnosis and optimisation of glycaemic control as they become less reversible with progression of cellular damage. A new approach to the treatment of these and other late complications of diabetes may be offered by recently developed drugs, such as sorbinil, that inhibit the enzyme aldose reductase. In various animal models of late complications of diabetes sorbinil and other aldose reductase inhibitors have been shown to reverse some of the biochemical and physiological changes believed to underlie these complications. These include prevention or reversal of the accumulation of sorbitol and depletion of myo-inositol in nerve, lens and renal glomeruli. Sorbinil also counteracts the slowing of nerve conduction velocities, reverses the structural changes of Sipple stages I and II cataracts and prevents proteinuria in diabetic rats. Orally administered sorbinil is absorbed rapidly and reaches steady state plasma concentrations after 6 to 10 days' administration. Its elimination half-life is long (38-52 hours) and much greater than that of another aldose reductase inhibitor, tolrestat (10-12 hours). Within the dose range 50-250 mg about one-third of administered sorbinil appears in the urine as unchanged drug. In the small number of clinical studies of diabetic patients with neuropathies sorbinil has demonstrated limited therapeutic effects. There is now a requirement for studies of its prophylactic use and its therapeutic use in patients with diabetic neuropathy in the early stages of development.