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news.Prestwick Pharmaceuticals' lead product tetrabenazine has performed well in a long-term study, proving to be an effective and well-tolerated treatment for severe hyperkinetic movement disorders among children resistant to other medications.
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Over the course of 18 years, 30 children aged 18 years and younger were treated with tetrabenazine at Columbia University Medical Center for a variety of hyperkinetic movement disorders, including chorea, dystonia, and Tourette syndrome.
Of the 30 patients, 22 (73%) experienced a reduction in movements (as assessed by the examining physician) after starting tetrabenazine. Sixteen patients continued tetrabenazine along with at least one other medication to control movements, while movements were sufficiently controlled with tetrabenazine alone in six patients.
“This is one of the largest reported studies of children treated with tetrabenazine,” said Dr Steven Frucht, assistant professor of neurology at the Neurological Institute of New York, Columbia University Medical Center for Parkinson’s Disease and Other Movement Disorders, and lead investigator of the study. “We are encouraged by the fact that nearly three quarters of children treated with tetrabenazine experienced a reduction in their involuntary movements.”
Tetrabenazine is available in some European markets and Australia as Xenazine and in Canada as Nitoman for the treatment of hyperkinetic movement disorders.