An external, portable, programmable pump has been developed for long-term therapeutic i.v. insusion of drugs. The impulse-controlled system consists of a 250 g CMOS-electronic unit and an electromechanical infusor (200 g) containing a 10 ml disposable syringe. The infusion pattern during the 24-h cycle is manually programmed in 16 steps from 24 to 384 microliter per 0.5 h. The coefficient of variation of the infusate is less than 2% per 0.5 h. An alarm circuit monitors the pump speed and the reservoir volume. The infusion system can operate continuously for 7 days with a 1 Ah, 5.4 volt battery.