Abstract: Methods for delivering a drug to a patient in need of the drug, while restricting access to the drug by patients for whom the drug may be contraindicated are disclosed. The methods are of the type in which prescriptions for the drug are filled by a pharmacy only after a computer readable storage medium has been consulted to retrieve a prescription approval code. Embodiments are provided wherein the patients are assigned to risk groups based upon the risk that taking the drug will lead to an adverse side effect, and certain additional information, such as periodic surveys and diagnostic tests probative of the ongoing risk of the side effect developing are obtained before prescriptions for the drug are approved.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a macrophage stimulating protein wherein a cysteine residue at position 672 from the N-terminus in the amino acid sequence of native form macrophage stimulating protein is deleted or substituted by another amino acid residue, e.g., an alanine residue; a DNA fragment encoding the protein; a recombinant vector including the DNA fragment; a host cell transformed with the recombinant vector; and a method for culturing the transformed host cell and recovering a macrophage stimulating protein variant from the cultured host cell.