New treatments are high priority in dystonia medical research. We’re encouraged to see ongoing clinical trials looking at new treatments, especially for those types of dystonia that remain difficult to target with current methods. The Stride Dystonia Study by Vima Therapeutics is one of these clinical research trials.
While botulinum toxin injections remain one of the most widely used treatments for dystonia, surveys showed that many types of dystonia are not truly focal and affect more than one part of the body, which is difficult to target with localized injections. Founder and CEO Bernard Ravina and his team started looking at potential oral medications that could be used in more widespread dystonia.
This research study is testing whether an investigational oral medication (VIM0423) is effective in reducing the severity of dystonia symptoms in those with isolated dystonia. Currently, the study is running out of centres in the United States, following participants for approximately 32 weeks from consent to conclusion. Eligible participants are randomly assigned to one of two groups. One group receives the investigational drug and the other receives a placebo, both taking the medication twice a day.
The random assignment and inclusion of a placebo group make the Stride Dystonia Study one of the highest-quality types of clinical research, helping scientists determine whether the treatment itself is responsible for any observed effects.
For more information, visit www.stridedystonia.com.
The study is being conducted at centres in the United States and is currently open only to eligible U.S. residents. Canadian residents are not eligible to participate at this time; however, the study is being highlighted to keep the Canadian dystonia community informed about emerging research.
Continue reading to learn more about Vima Therapeutics and how the Stride Dystonia Study is taking shape. Thank you to DMRF for permission to adapt and reprint this interview for our Canadian audience.
Q & A with Bernard Ravina, MD, MS, CEO of Vima Therapeutics
Bernard Ravina, MD, MS, is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Vima Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company based in Cambridge, MA, focused on developing new oral treatments for dystonia and related movement disorders. Dr. Ravina has over 25 years of cross-functional experience spanning government, academia, and the biopharmaceutical industry.
Q: You’ve spent much of your career as a neurologist treating people with movement disorders. What motivated you to found Vima Therapeutics and focus specifically on new dystonia treatment options?
When I had the opportunity to start a new company, I asked two main questions:
- Is there a need for a new treatment?
- Do we understand enough about the underlying science and biology to develop a new treatment?
As I looked into this further it became clear that the answer to both was yes. There haven’t been any new treatment approaches for dystonia, other than toxins and deep brain stimulation (DBS), since I was a movement disorders fellow 25 years ago.
On the biology and science, we realized that there were common themes about neurotransmitter imbalances across different types of dystonia. That got us working on some initial ideas and experiments back in 2023 and set us on the path to develop a potential new oral treatment for dystonia.
Q: You attended the 6th Samuel Belzberg International Dystonia Symposium in 2023. What stood out to you from the meeting?
That was a great meeting and showed me that there was energy, infrastructure like the Dystonia Coalition and natural history study, and a lot of talented scientists.
What also stood out was some of the data from the Dystonia Coalition and DysTract German natural history data that showed that when you look closely, more people have more widespread dystonia or more parts of the body involved than previously thought. Not focal, or limited to one body part, but in two or more body parts that might not be addressed by toxin injections.
Q: How important are gatherings like this for connecting researchers and clinicians?
I can’t overstate the value of the research and clinical community—it’s where you get and share ideas and those groups become the people that run clinical trials and develop new treatments.
You see it in every other field, and the research community grows along with the collaboration that comes from running clinical trials.
Q: Many current treatments for dystonia don’t fully control symptoms or can be difficult to tolerate. From your perspective, where are the biggest gaps today?
Our goal is to develop a reliable, daily oral treatment that would work regardless of the body part or parts affected by dystonia. That just doesn’t exist now.
Toxins have fluctuating or variable effects over time and are only FDA approved (and Health Canada) for neck and eyes and are very dependent on the quality of the injection and skill of the clinician.
DBS can have big effects in some, but of course it’s still brain surgery and natural history data show that only about 3% of dystonia patients have DBS.
In short, those treatments are helpful, but we need something that can treat more people more of the time.
Q: Your company is developing an oral medication, VIM0423, which is designed to target the underlying biology of dystonia. Can you explain, in simple terms, how it works in the brain?
The basic idea that comes from years of research is that there is an imbalance in key neurotransmitters that are involved in how the brain controls movement.
More specifically, we think there is an excess of a brain chemical, acetylcholine, relative to dopamine, in a part of the brain called the striatum, that is basically a relay center for movement signals.
Past studies and clinical trials suggest that blocking acetylcholine signaling may improve dystonia symptoms. However, existing medicines that block acetylcholine receptors are poorly tolerated due to side effects.
So, we have designed our investigational drug, VIM0423, to work on that mechanism, reducing acetylcholine signaling, while improving safety and reducing the side effects, with the goal of having a potential new, oral medication for dystonia.
Q: You’ve recently initiated the Phase 2 STRIDE Dystonia trial. What is the main goal of this study?
The goal of any clinical trial including Stride Dystonia is to understand the potential benefits and the potential side effects.
That’s what we are trying to do here and specifically to understand what the best dose is to maximize benefit on dystonia and minimize side effects to make the drug as useful as possible.
This is a process and the data from Stride Dystonia will help us to plan the next study and the path forward with the FDA, which is responsible for granting approval of all new medications.
Q: When might patients expect to see results from the STRIDE Dystonia trial, and what would success look like?
We are hopeful that we will complete the clinical trial in the first half of 2027. That timeline depends on everyone working together.
Q: How important is patient participation in advancing research like this?
Patient participation is the key ingredient. We started this company for people living with movement disorders. The trials that we conduct are a collaboration between people with dystonia and researchers.
Trials don’t happen without people enrolling, staying in the trial, taking the study drug, and relaying their objective and accurate experience in the trial. That’s what becomes the data.
It’s also one of the reasons we call this trial Stride Dystonia, making progress and taking the next step together.
Participating in trials is a contribution, it’s not about a particular person getting treatment; it’s about helping to develop future treatments.
So, as we get started on this trial, I just want to say thank you for the time and effort to those people who are already participating, and for those who are interested, you can learn more about the trial at stridedystonia.com.
Q: Are there forms of dystonia that may benefit most from this therapy?
Right now, we are focused on isolated or primary dystonia. This dystonia includes people who have dystonia not caused by another neurological disorders.
We also want to study people who have dystonia in more than one part of the body—that allows us enough severity to measure any change in the clinical trial.
We are hopeful that VIM0423 could work for people with many different kinds of dystonia regardless of the part of the body that’s involved, but we have to start somewhere, and this trial needs to be successful for us to make progress.
Q: If VIM0423 and similar therapies are successful, how do you envision the treatment landscape changing over the next 5–10 years?
A first approved oral medication for dystonia could be a game changer. First, it would offer people an entirely different way of treating dystonia without injections or surgery.
It will also set the stage for more new treatments to be developed. It will tell people who invest in research that dystonia is an area poised for progress; it will build that research community that we were talking about earlier, so that future trials can be even more efficient; and it will lay a path with the FDA for future treatments to follow toward approval.
Having a defined regulatory pathway would encourage other companies and researchers to explore other new treatments.
Changing that 5–10-year landscape starts with one successful trial, and so we are excited about Stride Dystonia and our collaboration with the DMRF and dystonia community to continue to move dystonia research forward.
Reprinted and adapted with permission from DMRF Dystonia Dialogue, Summer 2026, Vol. 49, No. 2.