Sarcopenia Consensus Summit is a four-day consensus definition conference is co-organized by the FNIH, NIA and FDA, and is also sponsored by 5 pharmaceutical companies (Abbott, Amgen, Eli Lilly, Merck, and Novartis). This conference will be held on May 8-11, 2012 at the InterContinental Hotel - Harbor Court, Baltimore, MD. It is anticipated that the resulting consensus definition of sarcopenia, enabled through the Biomarkers Consortium acting as a neutral convener for academia, industry, FDA, NIH, and professional societies, will contain useful recommendations for researchers, clinicians, and regulators.

Sarcopenia (muscle weakness) is common among older adults, resulting in serious consequences such as disability, increased mortality, and negative effects on co-morbid conditions. It is currently unrecognized as a disease state within the healthcare community because there is a lack of uniform criteria for its diagnosis and severity. The regulatory approval of therapies for sarcopenia depends on the recognition of sarcopenia as a medical condition, the creation of clear definition criteria to support specific sarcopenia-related indication(s) for treatment, and validation of clinically meaningful endpoints that can be evaluated in Phase III clinical programs for pharmacological interventions.

The short term goals for the meeting are to make substantive progress toward consensus on evidence-based criteria for the diagnosis of sarcopenia and to model a collaborative process for evidence-based diagnoses of other important geriatric health problems. The long term goal is to define a pathway toward evidence-based clinical diagnostic guidelines for other complex problems of aging.

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