Desferal (deferoxamine mesylate) adverse event reports that FDA received

Name: Reaction terms in FDA adverse event reports that name Desferal
Creator: Reported Reactions
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

Name type: Brand name
Generic name: Deferoxamine mesylate
Class: Iron chelator
Also reported as: Desferal /00062903/

What a report is

A report is not proof that the drug was the cause of the event.

FDA says:

Adverse event reports submitted to FDA do not undergo extensive validation or verification. Therefore, a causal relationship cannot be established between product and reactions listed in a report. While a suspected relationship may exist, it is not medically validated and should not be the sole source of information for clinical decision making or other assumptions about the safety or efficacy of a product. Additionally, it is important to remember that adverse event reports represent a small percentage of total usage numbers of a product. Common products may have a higher number of adverse events due to the higher total number of people using the product.
Source: openFDA, Drug Adverse Event Overview, section "Responsible use of the data". The site read the page on 2 Oct 2026. The data have the reports that FDA received through 30 Jun 2026.

FDA also says:

There is no certainty that the reported event (adverse event or medication error) was actually due to the product. FDA does not require that a causal relationship between a product and event be proven, and reports do not always contain enough detail to properly evaluate an event. The information in these reports has not been scientifically or otherwise verified as to a cause and effect relationship and cannot be used to estimate the incidence of these events.
Source: openFDA, Drug Adverse Event Overview. The site read the page on 2 Oct 2026.

Do not rely on openFDA to make decisions regarding medical care. While we make every effort to ensure that data is accurate, you should assume all results are unvalidated.
Source: openFDA, Response of the drug event API (meta.disclaimer). The site read the page on 2 Oct 2026.

Not medical advice. This site counts what was reported to FDA. Questions about a medicine or device belong with a pharmacist or clinician.

Drug reports received through 30 Jun 2026. Device reports have a separate cutoff, 30 Sep 2026. Why a report count is not a rate.

Reports on file

From March 2004 to April 2026, FDA received 847 adverse event reports that name Desferal. In these reports the drug is a suspect or interacting product.

In the same period, 595 further reports name it only as a concomitant medicine. The counts on this page do not include these reports.

FDA received 13 reports in the 12 months to June 2026 and 21 in the 12 months before. FDA releases FAERS data every quarter, so the newest months are not complete. They grow in later releases.

Of the 1,332,454 drug reports that FDA received in the 12 months to June 2026, 13 (under 0.1%) name Desferal. Reports from consumers or other non-health professionals were 23.3% of the reports that name Desferal and 45.8% of all drug reports.

The number of people who use the product is not in the data. A count is not a rate. A count of reports is not a count of events or of patients, because one event can have more than one report.

There are many instances of duplicative reports and some reports do not contain all the necessary information.
Source: FDA, FDA Adverse Event Monitoring System (AEMS) Public Dashboard. Content current as of 11 Mar 2026. The site read the page on 2 Oct 2026.

Suspect product

FDA records each drug in a report as suspect, concomitant or interacting. This page counts the reports in which Desferal is suspect or interacting. FDA says:

Any number of the drugs may be marked as suspect if thought to be responsible for one or more of the reactions, but that information is not validated.
Source: openFDA, Drug Adverse Event Overview. The site read the page on 2 Oct 2026.

Data version

openFDA FAERS release of 29 Oct 2026. Reports received through 30 Jun 2026.

Since the last update

FDA says:

Many factors can influence whether or not an event will be reported, such as the time a product has been marketed and publicity about an event.
Source: openFDA, Drug Adverse Event Overview. The site read the page on 2 Oct 2026.

The information in these reports cannot be used to estimate the incidence (occurrence rates) of the events reported.
Source: FDA, FDA Adverse Event Monitoring System (AEMS) Public Dashboard. Content current as of 11 Mar 2026. The site read the page on 2 Oct 2026.

The latest update of the FDA data, recorded on 28 Oct 2026, changed no count of this page.

In April to June 2026, FDA received 1 report that names Desferal.
In January to March 2026, FDA received 5.
In April to June 2025, FDA received 3.

April to June 2026 is the latest closed quarter in the data. A closed quarter is a quarter for which the FDA files have most of the reports.

All updates Feed of updates (RSS)

Reaction lookup

These are the reaction terms that the reports record, with the number of reports for each term. Type a term or a plain word to find its count.

What this list leaves out

The table lists the 92 reaction terms that 5 or more reports record. A term with fewer than 5 reports is not in the table.

The site keeps reaction terms for 828 of the 847 reports (97.8%).

The reports of the other years are not in the counts.

So a count in the table can be lower than the count of FDA.

Find a reaction term

The table shows the first 50 of 92 terms.

Reaction terms in the reports that name Desferal, most reports first
Reaction term (MedDRA) and plain meaning	Reports	Share of the 847 reports
Serum ferritin increased	100	11.8%
Deaththe patient died; cause not stated by this term	52	6.1%
Diarrhoealoose or frequent stools	50	5.9%
Vomitingbeing sick	46	5.4%
Nauseafeeling sick	41	4.8%
Drug ineffectivethe medicine did not work as expected	39	4.6%
Haemoglobin decreasedlow haemoglobin	37	4.4%
Pyrexiafever	35	4.1%
Dyspnoeashortness of breath	34	4%
Malaisegeneral feeling of being unwell	33	3.9%
Abdominal painstomach or belly pain	32	3.8%
Painpain, site not specified	27	3.2%
Blood creatinine increasedraised creatinine, a kidney test	26	3.1%
Fatiguetiredness	26	3.1%
Rashskin rash	26	3.1%
Astheniaweakness or lack of energy	25	3%
Renal failurekidney failure	25	3%
Blood iron increased	24	2.8%
Pneumonialung infection	23	2.7%
Anaemialow red blood cells	22	2.6%
Off label useused for a purpose or in a way not on the label	20	2.4%
Abdominal pain upperupper stomach pain	18	2.1%
Cardiac failureheart failure	18	2.1%
Headachehead pain	18	2.1%
Infectionan infection, type not specified	18	2.1%
Acute kidney injurysudden loss of kidney function	17	2%
Abdominal discomfortstomach discomfort	16	1.9%
Alanine aminotransferase increasedraised liver enzyme (ALT)	15	1.8%
Pruritusitching	14	1.7%
White blood cell count decreasedlow white cell count	14	1.7%
Drug intolerancethe medicine was not tolerated	13	1.5%
Product use issuea problem in how the product was used	13	1.5%
Arthralgiajoint pain	12	1.4%
Hepatic failureliver failure	12	1.4%
Aspartate aminotransferase increasedraised liver enzyme (AST)	11	1.3%
Oedema peripheralswelling of the legs, ankles or hands	11	1.3%
Sepsisa severe body-wide response to infection	11	1.3%
Urinary tract infectionbladder or urinary infection	11	1.3%
Blindnessloss of sight	10	1.2%
Constipation	10	1.2%
Diabetes mellitusdiabetes	10	1.2%
Hypersensitivityan allergic-type reaction	10	1.2%
Liver disorder	10	1.2%
Pain in extremitypain in an arm or leg	10	1.2%
Renal impairmentreduced kidney function	10	1.2%
Thrombocytopenialow platelets	10	1.2%
Visual acuity reducedreduced sharpness of vision	10	1.2%
Feeling abnormalfeeling odd or not right	9	1.1%
Influenzaflu	9	1.1%
Neutropenialow neutrophils, a type of white blood cell	9	1.1%

Download all 92 terms of Desferal (CSV)

The counts add to more than 847 reports, because one report can record more than one term. FDA says:

No individual drug is connected to any individual reaction. When a report lists multiple drugs and multiple reactions, there is no way to conclude from the data therein that a given drug is responsible for a given reaction.
Source: openFDA, Drug Adverse Event Overview. The site read the page on 2 Oct 2026.

The CSV file has the same rows and the same limits. Its last row is a note that says so.

MedDRA term

The person who codes a report selects the preferred term that agrees best with the description of the reporter. The words under a term are the plain meaning that this site gives.

Not the label

The FDA-approved label of a product lists its adverse reactions. See the official pages at the end of this page.

Same ingredient, other names

Reporters write a brand name or a generic name. Each name has its own page and its own count.

Names of Deferoxamine with a page, in the order generic names, brand names, names as reported
Name	Name type	Reports
Deferoxamine	Brand name	271
Desferal (this page)	Brand name	847

Sum of the separately reported names: 1,118. A report that names two of these names is in the sum two times. The sum is not the number of reports for the ingredient.

FDA says:

Additionally, it is important to remember that adverse event reports represent a small percentage of total usage numbers of a product. Common products may have a higher number of adverse events due to the higher total number of people using the product.
Source: openFDA, Drug Adverse Event Overview. The site read the page on 2 Oct 2026.

Importantly, the AEMS data by themselves are not an indicator of the safety profile of the drug or biologic.
Source: FDA, FDA Adverse Event Monitoring System (AEMS) Public Dashboard. Content current as of 11 Mar 2026. The site read the page on 2 Oct 2026.

Outcomes by year

The table gives the outcomes that the reporters gave, in the terms of FDA.

Outcomes in the reports that name Desferal, by the year of the openFDA file that holds the report

The table continues to the right.

Year of the openFDA file	Reports	Serious	Death	Life-threatening	Hospitalization (initial or prolonged)	Disability or Permanent Damage	Other Serious (Important Medical Events)	Not serious
2004	11	11	1	0	1	0	10	0
2005	22	22	6	0	6	3	12	0
2006	43	40	2	0	14	1	31	3
2007	27	27	2	0	9	0	22	0
2008	41	39	7	1	16	2	30	2
2009	36	36	4	2	8	3	30	0
2010	26	24	6	1	5	0	15	2
2011	31	29	4	0	18	1	16	2
2012	39	39	6	2	10	1	31	0
2013	24	24	5	1	12	0	14	0
2014	55	54	20	2	15	0	37	1
2015	53	43	13	2	15	1	17	10
2016	63	58	16	2	22	0	31	5
2017	88	81	21	5	30	0	50	7
2018	71	63	13	7	24	1	42	8
2019	44	41	9	3	20	1	22	3
2020	52	48	6	1	18	1	32	4
2021	20	19	2	0	4	2	13	1
2022	16	14	1	0	7	0	10	2
2023	22	22	1	0	8	0	15	0
2024	39	32	0	2	12	1	23	7
2025	16	15	0	1	9	0	8	1
2026	8	8	0	0	8	0	2	0

An outcome in a report is not proof that the drug was the cause. The reporter gives the outcome, and FDA does not verify it. FDA says:

The information in these reports has not been scientifically or otherwise verified as to a cause and effect relationship and cannot be used to estimate the incidence of these events.
Source: openFDA, Drug Adverse Event Overview. The site read the page on 2 Oct 2026.

The six headings with the names of FDA are the outcome terms of FDA. A report can have more than one outcome. The columns Serious and Not serious are the two values of the openFDA field serious. For the value serious, openFDA gives this description:

The adverse event resulted in death, a life threatening condition, hospitalization, disability, congenital anomaly, or other serious condition
Source: openFDA, Drug adverse event fields (YAML reference). The site read the page on 2 Oct 2026.

The year is the year of the openFDA file that holds the latest version of the report. It is not always the year in which FDA first received the report. The chart of the next section uses the year of first receipt. The latest year is not complete.

Reports by year and month

Reports that name Desferal, by the year in which FDA received them

The column of 2026 has an outline, because the year is not complete. It has the reports that FDA received through June 2026 only.

Show the figures of the chart as a table

Reports that name Desferal, by the year in which FDA received them
Year	Reports
2004	8
2005	19
2006	47
2007	29
2008	34
2009	40
2010	24
2011	40
2012	48
2013	26
2014	51
2015	57
2016	83
2017	87
2018	59
2019	49
2020	37
2021	14
2022	13
2023	27
2024	35
2025	13
2026	6

Reports that name Desferal, by month, five years to June 2026

FDA releases FAERS data every quarter, so the newest months are not complete. They grow in later releases.

Why a count moves

A count moves for many reasons. The guide gives FDA's words about them.

Patients and reporters

Age of the patient in the reports that name Desferal
Age	Reports	Share
Under 2	1	0.1%
2 to 11	42	5%
12 to 17	35	4.1%
18 to 44	146	17.2%
45 to 64	101	11.9%
65 to 74	55	6.5%
75 and over	68	8%
Age not given	399	47.1%

Sex of the patient in the reports that name Desferal
Sex	Reports	Share
Female	397	46.9%
Male	349	41.2%
Unknown or not given	101	11.9%

Type of reporter in the reports that name Desferal
Reporter	Reports	Share
Physician	319	37.7%
Pharmacist	75	8.9%
Other health professional	223	26.3%
Lawyer	0	0%
Consumer or non-health professional	197	23.3%
Not given	33	3.9%

Age and sex are as the report gives them. The reporter is the primary source in the report. 19% of the reports give the United States as the country.

Reason for use

Reason for use (indication) that the reports of Desferal record
Indication as recorded (MedDRA)	Reports	Share
Iron overload	164	19.4%
Thalassaemia	55	6.5%
Thalassaemia beta	38	4.5%
Myelodysplastic syndrome	37	4.4%
Haemochromatosis	31	3.7%
Blood iron increased	22	2.6%

The reporter fills in the indication, and the field is often empty. Each share is of all 847 reports.

Pages near this one

Deferoxamine same ingredient
Exjade same class
Deferiprone same class
Ferriprox same class
Deferasirox same class
Jadenu same class
Descovy next in the A to Z list
Desflurane next in the A to Z list
Deroxat next in the A to Z list
Desipramine next in the A to Z list
Depodur next in the A to Z list
Desloratadine next in the A to Z list

These links are for navigation. No count selected them. The class page lists each drug of the class.

Official pages

DailyMed labels for DesferalThe labels (prescribing information) that have this name, at the National Library of Medicine.
MedWatch Online Voluntary Reporting FormThe online form of FDA for a voluntary report.
MedWatch: The FDA Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting ProgramThe page of the FDA program that receives reports about drugs and devices.
FDA Adverse Event Monitoring System (AEMS) Public DashboardThe public dashboard of FDA for adverse event reports on drugs and biologics.

The site checked these addresses on 2 Oct 2026. The links open in a new tab.

Cite this page

Reported Reactions. Desferal: adverse event reports that FDA received. https://reportedreactions.com/drug/desferal/ Source: U.S. Food and Drug Administration, openFDA Drug Adverse Event (FAERS) files, release of 29 Oct 2026. Reports received through 30 Jun 2026.

Where the data come from

The counts come from the openFDA Drug Adverse Event (FAERS) bulk files, release of 29 Oct 2026. The files have the reports that FDA received through 30 Jun 2026. A drug name is the name on the report. The site matches it to a brand name or a generic name of the National Drug Code Directory of 2 Nov 2026. A class is the pharmacologic class (EPC) of the FDA label.

A report is in the count when it names Desferal as a suspect or interacting product. The 595 reports that name it only as a concomitant medicine are not in the count. The site does not publish a report narrative, a lot number, a detail of a patient or the identity of a reporter. The record of FDA is the authority. See how the site counts reports, the data sources and the corrections page.

Questions

Do these reports show that Desferal was responsible for the reactions?

No. FDA says:

For any given report, there is no certainty that a suspected drug caused the event.
Source: FDA, FDA Adverse Event Monitoring System (AEMS) Public Dashboard. Content current as of 11 Mar 2026. The site read the page on 2 Oct 2026.

A reaction can relate to the condition that the drug treats, to other medicines, or to something else.

Is this the list of reactions on the label of Desferal?

No. It is a count of what people reported to FDA: 847 reports from March 2004 to April 2026. The FDA-approved label of a product lists its adverse reactions. The official pages at the end of this page link to the labels.

Who sent these reports?

Physician (37.7%), other health professional (26.3%) and consumer or non-health professional (23.3%). These are the types of reporter for the reports that name this drug.

If a manufacturer receives an adverse event report, it is normally required to send the report to FDA.
Source: openFDA, Drug Adverse Event Overview. The site read the page on 2 Oct 2026.

How does a person report an adverse event?

FDA runs MedWatch, a program that takes voluntary reports from health professionals, patients and consumers. The guide on how to report has the links.

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