CytRx Corp. shares fell 9 percent Tuesday after the company announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had placed a hold on enrolling new patients in clinical trials of its experimental cancer drug following the death of a patient.

The advanced-stage cancer patient was not part of the West L.A. pharmaceutical company’s trial group. The patient received the drug, aldoxorubicin, through a program that makes experimental drugs available to patients with serious diseases who do not qualify for the trials.

Patients already enrolled in the mid-stage trials will continue receiving the treatment, CytRx said, but no new patients can be enrolled until the FDA hold is lifted.

Aldoxorubicin combines an established chemotherapy drug, doxorubicin, with a molecule that enables higher levels of doxorubicin to be safely given to patients without endangering healthy tissue.

Shares of CytRx Corp. fell 24 cents in Tuesday trading to close at $2.52.