New data show the investigational drug tetrabenazine maintained reduction of chorea associated with Huntington's disease (HD) up to 80 weeks in those patients who successfully completed treatment in a 13-week trial. These data suggest that tetrabenazine can be used successfully to sustain reduced chorea burden in long-term use.

"These findings demonstrate the potential benefit of tetrabenazine as maintenance therapy for US patients who present with troublesome chorea," said Dr Samuel Frank, assistant Professor of Neurology at Boston University Medical Centre, who presented the data on behalf of the Huntington Study Group. "Following individualized patient dosing based upon response and side effects, we were able to maintain reduced chorea burden."

Tetrabenazine is designed to reversibly stop the release of dopamine, a brain chemical involved in abnormal movements such as chorea. Chorea can be a debilitating feature of a number of neurological diseases, characterized by excessive, involuntary and repetitive movements that may flow from one body part to another. The movements may involve the face, limbs or the entire body. HD is one of the more notable diseases with chorea that may at first be limited to the fingers and toes. However, as the disease advances, the abnormal movements become more widespread.

Huntington's disease (HD) is an inherited degenerative brain disorder that affects 1 in 10,000 Americans and causes involuntary movements (chorea) and deterioration in the ability to think, walk, talk and reason. HD is hereditary, with each child of an affected parent having a 50 per cent chance of inheriting the gene that causes HD. The disease does not skip generations, and everyone who carries the gene will develop the disease. Most people with HD develop the illness between the ages of 30 and 45. At this time, there is no way to stop, slow or reverse the course of HD, and current treatments are aimed at alleviating the troublesome symptoms of the disease.