癌症恶病质是一种多因素代谢综合症，与增加的炎症反应，厌食症，代谢紊乱，胰岛素抵抗和激素改变交织在一起的病理生理学有关，这些共同产生有利于分解代谢的负能量平衡。治疗癌症恶病质的治疗策略的发展一直与增加食物摄入/补充，体育锻炼计划和/或通过减轻分解代谢和增加原代谢的药物有关。但是，药物的批准始终是监管机构的挑战。本回顾概述了癌症恶病质的主要药物治疗研究结果以及正在进行的评估体成分和肌肉功能的临床试验。美国国立医学图书馆（PubMed）被用作搜索工具。抗恶病质药物治疗应侧重于改善体成分，肌肉功能和死亡率，尽管到目前为止使用的化合物都未能展示出超出增加食欲和改善体成分的积极结果。Ponsegromab（GDF15抑制剂）是一种新药物刚刚进入II期临床试验，是治疗癌症恶病质的有前途的候选药物，如果该研究能按计划进行，可能会产生令人兴奋的结果。

Cancer cachexia is a multifactorial metabolic syndrome associated with a pathophysiology intertwined with increased inflammatory response, anorexia, metabolic dysregulation, insulin resistance, and hormonal alterations, which together generate a negative energy balance in favor of catabolism. The development of therapeutic strategies to treat cancer cachexia has always been related to clinical interventions with increased food intake/supplementation, physical exercise regimens, and/or medication to attenuate catabolism and increase the anabolic response. However, the approval of drugs by regulatory agencies has always been a challenge.This review outlines the main pharmacotherapy findings in cancer cachexia as well as the ongoing clinical trials that have evaluated changes in body composition and muscle function. The National Library of Medicine (PubMed) was used as search tool.The pharmacological therapy for cachexia should be focused on improving body composition, muscle function, and mortality, although none of the compounds used so far was able to demonstrate positive results beyond increased appetite and improvements in body composition. Ponsegromab (GDF15 inhibitor), a new compound that has just entered a phase II clinical trial, is a promising candidate to treat cancer cachexia and may produce exciting results if the study can be conducted as planned.