The effects of temocillin and moxalactam on platelet responsiveness and bleeding time were examined in healthy male volunteers. In the first study, moxalactam (4 g intravenously every 12 h) was given to six subjects; template bleeding times were at least doubled in five subjects 12 to 14 h after 7 doses (P = 0.008) and in all six subjects 12 to 14 h after 13 doses (P = 0.004). ADP-induced primary aggregation was approximately halved after 7 (P = 0.026) and 13 doses (P = 0.008), and there was a markedly increased tendency toward disaggregation. Collagen-induced aggregation was also halved, but the effect only reached statistical significance after 13 doses (P = 0.008). There was essentially no effect on primary aggregation in response to the thromboxane receptor agonist U46619 or to platelet activating factor. Temocillin (4 g intravenously every 12 h) was given to eight subjects, three of whom had participated in the moxalactam study 8 weeks earlier. Temocillin had no significant effect on template bleeding time 12 to 14 h after 7 or 13 doses. However, in four subjects, the endpoint may have been less abrupt. There was no significant effect on ADP-induced primary aggregation or responsiveness to collagen. Even after 13 doses of temocillin, secondary aggregation in response to normal concentrations of ADP was demonstrable in the platelet-rich plasma of all eight subjects. Neither antibiotic had any effect on prothrombin times. Thus, with methodology that readily detected the effects of moxalactam on hemostasis, we were unable to demonstrate any unequivocal deleterious effects of temocillin at its maximum recommended dose. Temocillin may therefore be particularly useful for the treatment of many gram-negative infections in patients at increased risk of clinical bleeding.