FDA approves iron replacement drug

Last Updated: 2015-01-26

By Reuters Staff

(Reuters) - The US Food and Drug Administration has approved Rockwell Medical Inc's drug Triferic for treating iron loss in chronic kidney disease patients on dialysis.

Anemia is common in kidney disease patients, who lose iron either due to dialysis or because they are unable to produce erythropoietin.

Triferic is added to the dialysis solution and allows dialysis patients to maintain target hemoglobin without the need for intravenous iron. The drug delivers iron directly to the bone marrow, similar to the physiologic iron uptake from the ingestion of food.

Triferic is formulated to replace the 5-7 mg iron that is lost during every dialysis treatment, the company says.

An advisory panel to the FDA had recommended an approval for Triferic in November.