
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, February 26, 1991                   TAG: 9102260162
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: SAN FRANCISCO                                LENGTH: Short

MANUFACTURER GETS OK FOR INTERFERON DRUG

Schering-Plough Corp. received Food and Drug Administration approval Monday to use alpha interferon, one of the earliest drugs produced by biotechnology, for the treatment of hepatitis C.

Alpha interferon is the first treatment approved for this sometimes fatal viral infection, which causes chronic liver inflammation and can lead to cirrhosis and liver cancer.

The approval is the most significant yet for alpha interferon, which was once hailed as a wonder drug that would cure cancer, only to be dismissed as unimportant when it failed to shrink tumors. But in the last 10 years, alpha interferon has slowly proved to be an effective therapy for several serious diseases. - The New York Times

by CNB