Deutetrabenazine Offers Long-Term Benefit for Severe TD

Deutetrabenazine offers long-term benefit for patients with severe tardive dyskinesia (TD), according to results from a 3-year open-label extension trial presented in a poster at Psych Congress 2020.

The single-arm study stemmed from a pair of 12-week trials that found clinically significant improvement in Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale (AIMS) scores with deutetrabenazine, compared with placebo. Some 337 patients were included in the 3-year open-label extension trial. 

Among patients with the most severe TD—those who scored higher than 14 at baseline on the AIMS—deutetrabenazine treatment was associated with more robust reductions in AIMS scores as well as a lower likelihood of treatment withdrawal, according to the poster, compared with patients with baseline AIMS scores of 14 or less.

Adverse Events With Deutetrabenazine Titration Decrease During Maintenance

At week 145, patients with severe TD at baseline had an 11-point decrease in AIMS score, on average, and a 60.1% change in AIMS score from baseline. Patients with less severe TD symptoms at baseline averaged a 5.1-point decrease and a 55.9% score change from baseline, researchers reported. By week 145, a 50% or higher AIMS score improvement occurred for 73% of patients with severe baseline symptoms and 65% of patients with less severe symptoms.

Some 38% of patients with severe TD at baseline discontinued treatment during the study, compared with 51% of patients with less severe baseline symptoms. Deutetrabenazine was generally well-tolerated, researchers noted, even in patients with more severe symptoms.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries sponsored the study.

—Jolynn Tumolo

Reference 

Chaijale N, Bona J, Barkay H, Wilhelm A, Gordon MF. Deutetrabenazine reduces severe tardive dyskinesia movements in a 3-year open-label extension trial. Poster presented at Psych Congress 2020; September 10-13, 2020; Virtual.