Study	Reason for exclusion
Economou 2010	Not randomised. Two‐arm observational study.
EPIC 2008	Not randomised, no comparison group. Single‐arm observational study.
Erdogan 2013	Not randomised. Two‐arm observational study.
ESCALATOR 2005	Not randomised, no comparison group. Single‐arm observational study.
Fernandes 2013	Randomised, evaluating amlodipine added to standard iron chelation therapy.
Gao 2011	Not randomised. Study comparing different doses of DFX and DFX to deferiprone and DFO.
Garadah 2011	Not randomised. Single‐arm interventional study.
Genc 2015	Not randomised. Three‐arm observational study.
Gomber 2016	Not randomised. No adequate random sequence generation.
Grady 2012	Non‐randomised. Single‐arm interventional study.
Hagag 2013	Randomised. Evaluating silymarin versus placebo added to DFX.
Hesham 2014	Not randomised. Case‐control study.
Inati 2011	Randomised controlled study on people with thalassaemia having undergone curative hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.
Kallistheni 2012	Not randomised. Two‐arm interventional study.
Karakukcu 2012	Not randomised. Three‐arm observational study.
Keikhaei 2011	Not randomised. Two single‐arm interventional studies.
Lu 2015	Randomised. Pharmacokinetic study with a very small population (n = 8).
Medrano Engay 2013	Randomised. No individuals with thalassaemia included.
Ozturk 2015	Not randomised. Three‐arm observational study.
Pakakasama 2011	Randomised controlled study on people with thalassaemia having undergone curative hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.
Pepe 2010	Study not randomised. Three‐arm observational study.
Pepe 2011	Study not randomised. Two‐arm observational study.
Pileri 2014	Randomised. No individuals with thalassaemia included.
Song 2014	Randomised. Pharmacokinetic study with a very small population (n = 8).
Torcharus 2011	Not randomised. Three‐arm observational study.
Walter 2012	Not randomised. Single‐arm interventional study.

DFO: deferoxamine
 DFX: deferasirox