Fax +41 61 306 12 34 E-Mail karger@karger.ch www.karger.com Original Paper Acta Haematol 2010;123:220–225 DOI: 10.1159/000313447 Improved Treatment Satisfaction and Convenience with Deferasirox in Iron-Overloaded Patients with -Thalassemia: Results from the ESCALATOR Trial Ali Taher   a Abdullah Al Jefri   b Mohsen Saleh Elalfy   c Kusai Al Zir   d Shahina Daar   e Diana Rofail   f Jean François Baladi   g Dany Habr   g Ulrike Kriemler-Krahn   h Amal El-Beshlawy   i a  American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon; b  King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; c  Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt; d  National Thalassemia Center, Damascus, Syrian Arab Republic; e  Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman; f  Mapi Values, Bollington, UK; g  Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, East Hanover, N.J., USA; h  Novartis Pharma AG, Basel, Switzerland; i  Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt EOS] vs. 30.1 8 44.2 [baseline] h/month). Patients reported greater satisfaction and convenience, and lower impact on daily activities, with deferasirox than with previous ICT. This may help improve adherence to lifelong ICT in iron-over- loaded -thalassemia patients. Copyright © 2010 S. Karger AG, Basel Introduction It is estimated that more than 56,000 infants born annually are affected by thalassemia major, including 30,000 who will require lifelong regular blood transfu- sions to survive [1]. Dependence on frequent blood transfusions results in an increased risk of accumulating excess iron or developing iron overload. Excess iron can- not be excreted naturally, leading to tissue damage and Key Words Convenience  Iron chelation therapy  Iron overload  -Thalassemia  Deferasirox Abstract Patient-reported outcomes of once-daily oral deferasirox (Exjade ) in iron-overloaded patients with -thalassemia not achieving successful chelation with prior deferoxamine and/or deferiprone were investigated in a prospective, open-label, 1-year, multicenter study in the Middle East (ESCALATOR). The initial dose of deferasirox was 20 mg/kg/ day, with subsequent dose adjustments. At baseline and the end of study (EOS), patients (n = 237) completed a 5-point rating scale for treatment satisfaction and convenience, and recorded time lost to treatment. At EOS, 90.7% of patients were ‘satisfied’/‘very satisfied’ with their iron chelation ther- apy (ICT) versus 23.2% at baseline. 92.8% (EOS) versus 21.5% (baseline) of patients considered their therapy to be ‘convenient’/‘very convenient’. Time lost to therapy for daily activities was substantially reduced (3.2 8 8.6 [mean 8 SD; Received: December 21, 2009 Accepted after revision: January 26, 2010 Published online: April 27, 2010 Ali Taher Department of Internal Medicine, Hematology-Oncology Division American University of Beirut Medical Center Beirut 1107 2020 (Lebanon) Tel. +961 1 749 230, ext. 5811, Fax +961 1 365 612, E-Mail ataher  @  aub.edu.lb © 2010 S. Karger AG, Basel 0001–5792/10/1234–0220$26.00/0 Accessible online at: www.karger.com/aha This study was funded by Novartis.