Iron Deficiency and Iron Deficiency Anemia
Iron deficiency is a widespread condition, impacting over 10 million people in the US alone. So a new iron deficiency treatment, that promises significant improvements over traditional treatments, is welcome news. ID and IDA particularly affect women of childbearing age, which becomes worse when pregnant, when it can affect over 35% of pregnant women.
Current treatments
A first step treatment today is orally taken iron salts tablets. These are obviously convenient to take, but there are known side effects, including worsening of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and general low tolerability to take. The lack of good tolerability can lead to patients stopping or reducing treatment and thus limiting effectiveness. A high percentage of patients report gastrointestinal discomfort and cease treatment. Stopping treatment can lead to worsening conditions and further complications.
A second stage treatment is intravenously, which has the advantage of being controlled in a medical environment, giving a fast iron level boost. A drip will feed a solution containing iron directly into a patients vein. This advantage is also a disadvantage, due to a lack of convenience and higher expense. It is rarely a long term solution.
What is needed is a well tolerated, effective, oral treatment.
Accrufer®
A new iron deficiency treatment has recently launched in 2021, promising to fix the tolerability issues of existing oral treatments. Accrufer is different, in that it is not an iron-salt based medication, instead, it is iron bound to “maltol”, a naturally occurring organic compound.
Critically, Accrufer does not break down in the stomach, thus helping to avoid gastrointestinal problems. Absorption occurs lower down the intestine. Two small capsules per day are taken until iron levels have returned to normal, usually 12 weeks or less.
For more information on this exciting new treatment, visit the Accrufer website.
Marketwise has no relationship to Accrufer or its manufacturer, Shield Therapeutics Inc, always seek medical advice from a professional.
Marketwise Hematologist email list
If you have a product or service to promote to hematologists, get in touch. Hematology is one of our many Medical disciplines available.