The controversial drug thalidomide slows weight loss in patients suffering from advanced pancreatic cancer, doctors said on Tuesday.

In one out of five patients in the later stages of the illness, severe wasting, or cachexia, is a direct cause of death but British researchers found that patients given thalidomide managed to retain their weight and muscle bulk.

“Thalidomide was well tolerated and effective at attenuating loss of weight and lean body mass in patients with cachexia due to advanced pancreatic cancer,” said Dr John Gordon, of Southampton University Hospital School of Medicine in southern England.

Thalidomide was taken off the market decades ago after causing severe birth defects in children. It was used in the 1950s and early 1960s as an anti-nausea drug for pregnant women until doctors realised it was causing limb deformities in unborn children by limiting blood supply.

Since then the drug has been experiencing a revival as a cancer treatment. Scientists are testing its impact against lung, brain and blood cancers.

Gordon and his colleagues tested the treatment on 50 terminally ill patients who had lost about 10 percent of their body weight. The patients were randomly selected to receive the drug or a placebo.

After four weeks, patients on the dummy treatment had lost an average of 2.2 kg (5 lb) and their arm muscle bulk had shrunk by 4.5 cm (2 inches). Patients taking thalidomide gained about 0.37 kg and increased their arm muscle bulk by 1 cm.

The difference between the two groups was even more striking after eight weeks. But the researchers said there was no overall difference in survival times between the two groups.

About 216,000 new cases of cancer are diagnosed worldwide each year of the pancreas, the organ which produces juices to help digest food and hormones, such as insulin, which regulate how the body stores and uses food.

It is a common disease and very difficult to treat, with a five-year survival rate of less than 5 percent.

Developed countries have the highest incidence rate, according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in Lyon, France.

Gordon, who reported the findings in the journal Gut, said in the future combining the drug with nutritional supplements and other treatments could ultimately lead to a better outcome for patients.