Last year, we had shared how extremely high ferritin levels are being controlled using a combination of deferasirox and deferoxamine at our centres. "A Novel approach to control very high ferritin levels - our experience - (Volume 6 Issue 8 September 2016 Pg 6-7)" Iron overload is the root cause of the complications associated with thalassemia. Even for those children who find a match and thus have a chance to get cured - bringing down the ferritin levels is the first step towards transplantation preparation. In-spite of having an effective approach, we were facing difficulties in iron control. Deferoxamine therapy may cost about Rs 6800 per month for a 25kg kid. Most families are unable to afford the drug.
In this context we requested Jasmeen Ben for her help. A few days later she called back to inform that Dr. C J Thakkar and Suman Ramesh Tulsiani Charitable Trust have kindly agreed to support Sankalp's Program for Thalassemia Cure with Deferoxamine. The missing link in the fight against high ferritin fell in place.
This medicine is given using infusion pumps - a costly piece of equipment. We have 10 of these in Bangalore and another 4 in Mumbai. Starting January 2017 we have kept all the infusion pumps busy targeting about 80% utilisation of the quipment week after week. With the support we have got, we are able to make sure that each child gets adequate access to this therapy without the limitations of cost. Each vial is being used judiciously to ensure maximum benefit reaches the children.
The results of using short term therapy of Deferoxamine continue to be encouraging. We are moving to the next step of proving the efficacy of this therapy and publish our findings. Work on this is already underway. We truly believe that this therapy will continue to be the answer to the requirements of rapid control of serum ferritin.