Abstract: A method of treating a patient infected with a hepatitis C virus to decrease the severity of the viral infection. The method comprises concomitantly administering over a given period of time to the patient a first component and a second component. The first component consists of a pharmaceutical composition containing as an active ingredient a pharmaceutically acceptable salt or prodrug of mycophenolic acid in a therapeutically effective amount to decrease the severity of the viral infection. The second component consists of an injection solution containing as an active ingredient interferon-&agr; or pegylated interferon-&agr; in a therapeutically effective amount to decrease the severity of the viral infection. The components are concomitantly administered over a period of time at least sufficient to reduce the amount of HCV-RNA present in the peripheral blood of said patient to less than 100 copies/ml at 24 weeks after the end of treatment.