A drug currently approved for tardive dyskinesia (TD) is also effective at treating Huntington's disease (HD)–associated chorea, a movement disorder that affects most patients with HD, new phase 3 trial results show.
Valbenazine is in the same class as two other drugs already approved for HD-related chorea. However, researchers suggest the TD drug may have benefits over those medications, including its once-daily dosage and safety profile.
In the KINECT-HD trial, which included almost 130 patients, those who received valbenazine showed significantly greater chorea symptom-improvement scores than those who received matching placebo. In addition, there was no increase in suicidal ideation or behavior.
"We know that not all chorea is symptomatic, but when chorea is problematic, it should be addressed," lead investigator Erin Furr-Stimming, MD, neurologist and director of the Huntington's Disease Society of America Center of Excellence with McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, Houston, Texas, told Medscape Medical News.
"Based on our work and others', we feel that there is an unmet medical need for the symptomatic treatment of chorea in HD," Furr-Stimming said.
The findings were presented at the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) 2022 Annual Meeting.
No Black-Box Warning?
HD affects more than 35,000 individuals in the United States. About 90% of these patients experience chorea, which includes involuntary, nonrhythmic movements that appear to flow from one muscle to another.
