Certain platinum compounds have the ability to inhibit the division of living cells. The discovery of this property by Professor Barnett Rosenberg and others in 1962 led to the development of platinum-based drugs to treat a wide range of cancers. Cisplatin, the first platinum anti-cancer drug, began to be used in treatment in 1978. Testicular cancer was found to be susceptible to treatment with cisplatin and there were other successes with ovarian, head and neck cancers.

Researchers at the Institute of Cancer Research and the Royal Marsden Hospital in London achieved a significant step forward when they found a compound similar to cisplatin in terms of activity, but much less toxic. The drug was first synthesised in 1971 by Dr Mike Cleare of Johnson Matthey in his research as part of a team set up by Professor Rosenberg. The drug carboplatin (JM 8) was developed over 12 years in a collaboration between Johnson Matthey, the Institute of Cancer Research and Bristol-Myers. The drug is marketed under the name Paraplatin in the UK by Bristol-Myers Squibb Company. Carboplatin can be used to treat ovarian and small cell lung cancers.

Recent research has sought to identify new platinum compounds which can be taken orally instead of intravenously, or which will treat tumours which do not respond to or which become resistant to cisplatin and carboplatin.