“…As opposed to deferoxamine, which must be administered by subcutaneous infusion, the oral formulation of deferiprone simplifies treatment, improves patients' quality of life, and improves adherence (Tricta et al, 1996;Franchini and Veneri, 2004;Delea et al, 2007). Although the long-term safety profile of deferiprone is well defined, the mechanism of and factors involved in its adverse effects, such as gastrointestinal disturbances, arthralgia, neutropenia, and agranulocytosis, are unclear (Agarwal et al, 1990;Taher et al, 2001;Ceci et al, 2002;Cohen et al, 2003;Franchini and Veneri, 2004), thus emphasizing the need to decipher the underlying mechanisms and factors involved in these adverse effects. Deferiprone has good bioavailability, but its clearance is accelerated by rapid biotransformation: approximately 85% of the drug is metabolized to a nonchelating (inactive) 3-O-glucuronide conjugate (Huang et al, 2006) by UDP-glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs).…”