Schering Gets OK to Sell Hepatitis C Drug

Schering-Plough Corp. said the Food and Drug Administration agreed to allow it to sell its already marketed hepatitis C drug, Rebetol, as an individual treatment--a decision long-awaited by patients seeking a more effective way to use the medicine.

The ruling allows Schering-Plough to market separate packages of Costa Mesa-based ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s Rebetol capsules, which are available only in a combination package with an injectable interferon drug called Intron-A.

The packages, marketed under the brand name Rebetron, are the Kenilworth, N.J.-based firm’s second-biggest product and have been considered the “gold standard” of treatment.

But doctors have recently held off on prescribing Rebetron, waiting for the chance to write separate prescriptions for Rebetol and Schering-Plough’s new and longer-acting form of interferon called Peg-Intron, which was approved by the FDA in January as a stand-alone product.

Shares of Schering-Plough rose 80 cents to $38, while ICN jumped $2.03 to $30.93, both on the NYSE.