Teva Pharmaceutical Investments Singapore Pte Ltd. and Jiangsu Nhwa Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. announced it formed a partnership for the marketing and distribution of Teva?s AUSTEDO (deutetrabenazine) for the treatment of neurodegenerative and movement disorders - chorea associated with Huntington?s disease (HD) and tardive dyskinesia (TD) in adults. The partnership intends to increase patients?

access to Teva?s AUSTEDO, leveraging Nhwa?s leadership in China?s neuro-psychiatric health sector. Huntington?s disease is a rare and fatal neurodegenerative disorder. Chorea, one of the most striking physical manifestations of Huntington?s disease, is a neurological disorder that causes involuntary, random muscle movements.

It is one of the main symptoms of the disease, occurring in up to 90% of adults living with Huntington?s disease. Tardive dyskinesia is another disorder that results in repetitive and uncontrollable movements of the tongue, lips, face, trunk and extremities, affecting 20-50% of patients on long-term antipsychotic medication. For patients with schizophrenia, who are more likely to be treated with antipsychotic medication, the prevalence of TD in China is higher(36.0%~46.5%), than the global average (25.3%).

In a deuterated drug, hydrogen atoms are replaced with deuterium, which may significantly lower metabolism rates. The deuterium technology used in AUSTEDO allows less frequent dosing for patients. AUSTEDO is the first and only vesicular monoamine transporter 2 (VMAT2) inhibitor approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in adults for the treatment of tardive dyskinesia and for the treatment of chorea associated with Huntington?s disease (HD).