Efficacy of Austedo (deutetrabenazine) For Treating Huntington's Disease

Karen Anderson, MD, neuropsychiatrist at Georgetown University, Director of Huntington’s Disease Care, Education, and Research Center, discusses Austedo (deutetrabenazine) to treat patients with Huntington’s disease (HD).

HD is a progressive disorder that causes neurons to gradually deteriorate and die. Areas of the brain particularly impacted include the basal ganglia that is involved in voluntary movement. People living with HD develop uncontrollable movements (chorea) and abnormal body postures. Psychological and cognitive abnormalities are also common as the disease progresses. Symptoms of HD typically appear in middle-aged people, but in rare cases can also appear in children.

Early signs of HD can vary, but often include mild clumsiness and problems with balance or movement, cognitive or psychiatric symptoms (problems with thinking or emotion), and changes in behavior.

Other symptoms may include:

- Tremor
- Unusual eye movements
- Slurred speech
- Problems with swallowing, eating, speaking, and especially walking
- Weight loss due to problems with feeding, swallowing, choking, and chest infections
- Insomnia
- Loss of energy and fatigue
- Seizures

Deutetrabenazine is a vesicular monoamine transporter type 2 inhibitor that decreases dopamine. As Dr. Anderson explains, this causes a decrease in chorea-like movements in patients with HD.

The phase 4 START clinical trial was a real-world study assessing the utilization of deutetrabenazine with a 4-week patient titration kit in order to determine the most effective dose for each patient. Dr. Anderson describes observations of a 33% reduction of chorea from baseline in the study. Further, approximately, 53% of participants achieved treatment success as determined by clinician global impression of change and 71% achieved treatment success on the patient side. 100% of participants and clinicians found the titration kit to be useful.

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:24 Huntington's Disease Overview
1:28 Prevalence of Chorea in Huntington's
2:29 Austedo Overview
3:24 Phase 4 START Clinical Trial
4:48 Clinical Trial Results
6:05 Implications For Physicians and Patients