Interim Results from a Phase 2, Multicenter, Single-Arm Study to Evaluate the Safety and Efficacy of Deferasirox after Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation in Children with Beta-Thalassemia Major

• Published in: Blood 2015-12, Vol.126 (23), p.959-959
• Main Authors: Yesilipek, M Akif, Karasu, Gulsun, Kaya, Zuhre, Kuskonmaz, Baris B, Uygun, Vedat, Dag, Ilkiz, Birkent, Asli, Ertem, Mehmet
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0006-4971; 1528-0020
• DOI: 10.1182/blood.V126.23.959.959

▪ Introduction: Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is being increasingly used as curative therapy for severe disorders of the hematopoietic system and transfusional iron overload (TIO) contributes considerably to treatment-related morbidity and mortality after HSCT. Management of iron overload in the post-HSCT setting may be complicated since the use of therapeutic phlebotomies is often not feasible due to ongoing anemia and compliance to deferoxamine is low. Studies that evaluate the safety dose of deferasirox (DFX), which is the most commonly used chelation therapy, in this setting are limited. Purpose & Methods: This is a prospective, phase 2, multicenter, single-arm study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of iron chelation with oral DFX in beta-thalassemia major (TM) patients who have undergone HSCT. The study was conducted in 7 centers from Turkey. The primary objective was to evaluate if DFX could provide clinically safe chelation in a target pool of 26 pediatric patients with TIO within a minimum of 6 months and maximum of 2 years after related/unrelated HSCT. Patients had to be transfusion-independent and have iron overload at screening defined by serum ferritin (SF) of >1000 μg/L or cardiac MRI T2*