1. The pharmacokinetics of a new calcium antagonist barnidipine hydrochloride, a stereochemically pure enantiomer, was studied after intravenous and oral dosing to the rat and dog, and oral to man. 2. After intravenous dosing, plasma concentrations of barnidipine hydrochloride declined bi-exponentially with the terminal half-lives of 0.6 h in the rat and 4.1 h in the dog. The blood clearance was 5.2 l/h/kg in the rat and 3.3 l/h/kg in the dog, and was comparable with hepatic blood flow in both species. 3. After oral dosing, plasma concentrations of barnidipine hydrochloride peaked rapidly (0.3-0.4 h in the rat and dog, 1.0-1.6 h in man). Cmax and AUC rose non-linearly with increasing doses in all three species. 4. The absolute bioavailability was low (11-18% in the rat and 6-9% in the dog), suggesting a marked first-pass metabolism.