From the FDA Drug Label
Administer AUSTEDO XR with or without food in once-daily doses Administer AUSTEDO with food and administer total daily dosages of 12 mg or above in two divided doses Swallow tablets whole; do not chew, crush, or break
The dosing route of deutetrabenazine is oral.
- The medication can be administered with or without food.
- Total daily dosages of 12 mg or above should be administered in two divided doses.
- Tablets should be swallowed whole and not chewed, crushed, or broken 1.
From the Research
Deutetrabenazine is administered orally, typically twice daily with food, as this route allows for convenient dosing, easy titration, and increased bioavailability. The medication comes in tablet form and is taken by mouth, helping maintain therapeutic blood levels throughout the day 2. Taking deutetrabenazine with food is important as it increases the bioavailability of the medication, enhancing its absorption into the bloodstream. This oral dosing route is advantageous because it allows for easy titration of the dose based on patient response and tolerability. Patients should swallow the tablets whole without crushing or chewing them to ensure proper drug release and effectiveness. The oral route also facilitates patient adherence to the medication regimen, which is crucial for managing conditions like tardive dyskinesia or chorea associated with Huntington's disease, the primary indications for deutetrabenazine therapy. Some key points to consider when administering deutetrabenazine orally include:
- The recommended starting dose of deutetrabenazine for TD is 6 mg BID, administered with food, and can be increased at weekly intervals in increments of 6 mg/day to a maximum recommended daily dosage of 24 mg BID 2.
- Deutetrabenazine has been shown to be well tolerated with a favorable safety profile in various studies, including those for the treatment of tardive dyskinesia and chorea associated with Huntington's disease 3, 4.
- A bioequivalence comparison between the once-daily extended-release tablet and the twice-daily tablet formulations of deutetrabenazine at steady state found that the once-daily formulation was bioequivalent to the twice-daily formulation for both AUC and Cmax 5.