1.   At the moment, the treatment of choice for HCV is the drug interferon.

2.   Biogen Corp. came a step closer Monday to getting its drug beta interferon to market when it formally filed a new drug application for Food and Drug Administration approval.

3.   Early testing of Glivec at UCLA focused on patients in the chronic stage of the disease who did not respond to standard treatments with the drug interferon.

4.   He quit taking the drug interferon, because it slowed him down.

5.   Robbins, however, is responding favorably to treatment with the drug beta interferon, which he injects into his system every other day.

6.   The meeting followed an unexpected report in July showing that the drug alpha interferon did not block the blood vessel growth, after earlier experiments had suggested it would.

7.   The standard treatment is the drug interferon or a combination of interferon and ribavirin.