Table 2.

Comparision of the general properties of iron chelators.

Properties	DFO	DFX	DFP
Brand name	Desferal	Exjade	Ferriprox
		Jadenu
Year of FDA approval	1968	2005	2011
Administration routes	Subcutaneous intravenous	Oral	Oral
Usual doses	20–50 mg/kg/d	20–40 mg/kg/d	75–100 mg/kg/d
Usual schedules	8–24 h, 5 d per week	Once a day	Three times per day
Iron-binding affinity	26.6 pM	22.5 pM	19.9 pM
Indicationsa	Iron overload	Iron overload	Iron overload
	Thalassemia	Thalassemia	Transfusional iron overload
	Sickle cell disease	Sickle cell disease	Sickle cell disease
	Hemosiderosis	Hemosiderosis	Hepatic impairment
	Transfusional iron overload	Hepatic impairment	Thalassemia
	Diabetes mellitus Hepatitis C		Hemochromatosis
Efficacy in liver	Good	Good	Moderate
Elimination t1/2	6 h	8–16 h	1.9 h
Metabolism	Plasma enzymes	Liver UGT 1A1	Liver UGT 1A6
Clearance	Renal	Hepatic	Renal
	Hepatic
Excretion	Urine	Feces Urine	Urine
	Bile
	Feces
Adverse effects	Abdominal discomfort	Nausea	Nausea
	Nausea	Vomiting	Vomiting
	Vomiting	Diarrhea	Diarrhea
	Diarrhea	Abdominal pain	Abdominal pain
	Hypotension	Rash	Arthralgia
	Anaphylaxis	Cytopenia	Neutropenia
	Local reactions	Hepatic and renal dysfunction	Increased ALT
	Bone abnormalities	Gastric intolerance	Agranulocytosis
	Allergic reaction	Increased transaminases and creatinine
	Bacterial infections

Abbreviations: FDA, Food and Drug Administration; DFO, deferoxamine; DFP, deferiprone; UGT, UDP glucuronosyltransferases; ALT, alanine aminotransferase.

^aData were obtained from ClinicalTrials: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov.