Table 1. Summary of the properties of iron chelators in clinical use.

Property of Chelator	Desferrioxamine (DFO)	Deferiprone (L1)	Desferasirox (ICL-670)
Date of approval for clinical use1,8,14	1970s	1999 in Europe and Asia,2012 in the USA	2005
Usual dose1	20–50 mg/kg/day	75–100 mg/kg/day	20–40 mg/kg/day
Molecular weight	560	139	373
Fe binding log stability constant6,7,32	30.6	35	38
Chelator: Iron39	1∶1 (Hexadentate)	3∶1 (Bidentate)	2∶1 (Tridentate)
Potential toxicities11,13,16	Reaction at the infusion site,neurotoxicity, boneabnormalities	Neutropenia, agranulocytosis,arthralgia, elevation of liverenzyme	Gastrointestinal, rash, renal and liver