Valbenazine, sold under the brand name Ingrezza, is a medication used to treat tardive dyskinesia.
[3] The clinical trials that led to the approval of valbenazine by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) were six weeks in duration.
[5] Valbenazine is known to cause reversible reduction of dopamine release by selectively inhibiting pre-synaptic human vesicular monoamine transporter type 2 (VMAT2).
[6] Although the exact cause of tardive dyskinesia is unknown, it is hypothesized that it may result from neuroleptic-induced dopamine hypersensitivity because it is exclusively associated with the use of neuroleptic drugs.
This selectivity is likely to reduce the likelihood of "off-target" adverse effects which may result from the upstream inhibition of these other monoamines.