The times they are a-changin': the Cachexia Conference goes annual.

The field of cachexia and muscle wasting research has started to move, slowly but steadily, and large and small companies alike are increasing their efforts into the development of new drug therapies for cachexia, sarcopenia and frailty. Recent research has focused on novel screening tools and biomarker research to enable an early diagnosis of wasting, but also on the pathophysiological understanding of the wasting process nutrition, exercise, particularly in cachectic cancer patients, and novel therapeutic approaches. Even though the pathophysiological understanding is making rapid progress – if not by the minute or day, then by the week for sure – recent phase III trials have failed unfortunately to translate gain in muscle mass into gain in muscle function, i.e. more exercise capacity or strength or better stair climbing power. The Cachexia Conference, closely affiliated with this journal and the Society of Sarcopenia, Cachexia and Wasting Disorders (SCWD), until recently held ist conferences only every other year in a different location. The Cachexia Conferences closely follow the rapid progress in the field of cachexia research. Therefore, as of this coming December, the conference will be held annually. Indeed, the 9th Cachexia Conference is due to take place on December 10-11, 2016, in Berlin, Germany. Berlin is a city that is changing as quickly as the field of cachexia research. Following the lines of Bob Dylan’s song The Times They Are A-changin’, we invite researchers to come to Berlin to share their enthusiam and insight: