Dr. Mitchell L. Shiffman, chief of MCV's hepatology section, said that while the drug is "very, very promising" as a treatment for hepatitis C, the hoopla surrounding the drug's approval may be misleading.

Shiffman, who is involved in two studies of interferon alpha at MCV.

Interferon alpha is the only drug approved for treatment of hepatitis C, a sometimes fatal viral infection that causes chronic liver inflammation and can lead to cirrhosis and liver cancer.