An experimental drug may stop the life-threatening muscle wasting that occurs in patients with advanced cancer, preliminary data shows.

Most patients with advanced cancer experience muscle wasting, known clinically as cachexia, at some point during the course of their disease.

This condition includes loss of muscle mass, atrophy, fatigue, weakness, and loss of appetite.

It is most common in pancreas and gastrointestinal cancers, with up to 70 to 80 percent of patients experiencing this condition so severely that it impacts their ability to tolerate necessary treatments.

In fact, one-third of pancreatic cancer patients die of the affects of cachexia, not of the cancer itself, said the Ohio State University researchers involved in the drug's development. 

The new experimental drug, known as AR-42, belongs to a class known as HDAC inhibitors, which are designed to block the proteins that play a key role in mediating skeletal muscle breakdown.

Using metabolic testing, the researchers evaluated AR-42 against two other HDAC inhibitors, and found it to be the only agent shown to have a strong protective effect against cancer-associated muscle wasting. 

Human clinical trials of AR-42 on pancreatic cancer patients are expected to begin within a year, the researchers said.

The study appears in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.