Gallium Maltolate

Gallium maltolate is a coordination complex consisting of a trivalent gallium cation coordinated to three maltolate ligands. The compound is undergoing clinical and preclinical testing as a potential therapeutic agent for cancer, infectious disease, and inflammatory disease. It appears to have low toxicity when administered orally, without the renal toxicity observed for intravenously administered gallium nitrate. The lower toxicity probably results because gallium absorbed into the body from oral gallium maltolate becomes nearly entirely protein bound, whereas gallium from intravenous gallium nitrate tends to form anionic gallium hydroxide (Ga(OH)₄-; gallate) in the blood, which is rapidly excreted in the urine and may be renally toxic. Topical gallium maltolate, which is administered to the skin at a dose of approximately one-thousandth that of the safe oral dose, has had no reported adverse effects. A cosmetic skin cream containing gallium maltolate is marketed under the name Gallixa.