This study is being conducted in treatment-naive patients (no previous hepatitis C treatment) to evaluate the safety of valopicitabine (NM283) alone and together with pegylated interferon, a drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of hepatitis C infection. This study is also evaluating the ability of valopicitabine to decrease the amount of hepatitis C virus in the body. The results for patients taking valopicitabine alone will be compared with the results for patients taking valopicitabine together with pegylated interferon.