The Egyptian experience with oral iron chelators

As no physiological mechanism exist for excreting transfusional iron overload in thalassemia, chelation therapy is the mandatory way to remove iron to prevent end organ damage and prolong survival. Desferoxamine (DFO) has been the major iron chelating agent used extensively worldwide for more than three decades for treatment of transfusional iron overload. However compliance has been a major obstacle in achieving an optimal therapeutic results. During the last 20 years the search for an affective oral iron chelators alternatives to Sc. DFO has been intensive. Different compounds have been studied, most of them although effective in animals have shown unacceptable toxicity with the exception of Deferiprone (L1) and ICL670.