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

DATE: TUESDAY, June 8, 1993                   TAG: 9306080123
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS DRUG GETS CLOSER TO APPROVAL

The FDA sent the makers of Betaseron, a form of beta interferon, a letter saying the experimental drug was approvable but that the manufacturer first must meet certain conditions.

A FDA advisory committee recommended approval March 19, saying that clinical studies had shown Betaseron to be safe and effective in so-called relapsing-remitting cases of MS.

MS is a crippling disease that often flares up and then goes into remission in its early stages. Researchers have spent more than a decade exploring how interferons might help the immune systems of MS patients. - Associated Press