This review describes adverse drug reactions (ADRs) reported for 1990, with particular emphasis on: firstly, the adverse reactions to cyclosporine, a drug whose use has so greatly enhanced long-term survival after organ transplantation and has proved beneficial in many autoimmune diseases with the result that anaesthetists frequently encounter patients receiving this drug; and secondly, torsade de pointes, a ventricular tachyarrhythmia that is often drug related, e.g. secondary to terfanadine, haloperidol, and ketanserin.