The long-term efficacy and tolerability of oral deferasirox for patients with transfusion-dependent β-thalassemia in Taiwan

Deferasirox is a novel once-daily, oral iron chelator. The aim of this study was to evaluate the long-term efficacy and tolerability of deferasirox in Taiwanese patients with transfusion-dependent β-thalassemia who have been treated with deferasirox for 7 years. Taiwanese patients aged ≥2 years with transfusion-dependent β-thalassemia whose serum ferritin levels were ≥1000 ng/mL and had started deferasirox treatment since December 2005 at the National Taiwan University Hospital were enrolled. Sixty patients were recruited for analysis, and 11 (18.3 %) patients discontinued deferasirox during the study. In the 42 patients included in the efficacy analysis, the mean serum ferritin levels decreased significantly by 2566 ng/mL after 7 years of treatment (P < 0.001). Forty-one of these patients received a cardiac T2* evaluation after 3 years of deferasirox treatment, and the mean cardiac T2* value increased significantly from 30.6 ± 16.6 to 45.9 ± 22.6 ms after 7 years of deferasirox treatment (P < 0.001). Deferasirox-related adverse events assessed by investigators were reported in 46 (76.7 %) patients. The most common adverse events related to deferasirox were skin rashes (n = 29, 48.3 %), followed by abdominal pain (n = 23, 38.3 %) and diarrhea (n = 16, 26.7 %). Most adverse events were manageable. This study demonstrated that long-term treatment with deferasirox was effective in improving iron overload, including cardiac iron overload, in patients with transfusion-dependent β-thalassemia. Deferasirox was well tolerated; however, the incidences of common adverse events related to deferasirox appeared higher in our Taiwanese patients than other studies.