Edwina Hart will meet families affected by muscle disease at the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign's conference in Swansea on 13 October.

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Wyeth, one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies, created a myostatin-blocking drug and put it into clinical trials for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a muscle-wasting disease that kills hundreds of men each year before they reach their mid-thirties.

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Many types of muscular dystrophy can also reduce the efficiency of the heart muscle.

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Current muscular-dystrophy treatment includes steroids, which can help maintain muscle strength somewhat longer, but often include side effects such as weight gain.

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She said a pill to prevent muscle loss would unfortunately not be able to change the genetic cause of muscular dystrophy, but might slow down the disease progression.

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