Tag: Austedo

Affecting one in four patients taking certain antipsychotic medications, tardive dyskinesia is a significant movement disorder [1.8.3]. So, **what type of drug is deutetrabenazine?** It is a vesicular monoamine transporter 2 (VMAT2) inhibitor used to manage this and other movement disorders [1.2.1].

Since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved two novel VMAT2 inhibitors in 2017, the treatment paradigm for movement disorders like tardive dyskinesia and Huntington's chorea has been significantly modernized. These newer agents address long-standing challenges associated with earlier treatments, answering the critical question: **what are the new VMAT2 inhibitors** that offer improved efficacy and tolerability?

Deutetrabenazine, first approved by the FDA in 2017, is primarily classified as a vesicular monoamine transporter 2 (VMAT2) inhibitor. This medication, known by the brand names Austedo and Austedo XR, is a specifically modified version of the older drug tetrabenazine, designed for improved pharmacokinetics.