IV Iron Safety: Evaluation of Iron Species in Healthy Subjects

A generic version of Ferrlecit was approved in 2011 and is available. Shortly after the approval of the generic, a 'Reflections Paper on Non-Clinical Studies for Generic Nanoparticle Iron Medicinal Product Applications' was published by the European Medicines Agency. The authors of this paper proposed that generic iron preparations deliver increased levels of 'labile iron' to the plasma resulting in oxidative damage and toxicity. As such, studies measuring the in vivo levels of free or labile iron from generic versus brand iron-preparations were recommended. The primary outcome will be the assessment of non-inferiority of the generic colloid product against the reference colloid product with respect to non-transferrin bound iron (NTBI), after single-dose i.v. administration of brand and generic sodium ferric gluconate injections in n=48 healthy subjects.