Designing Drug Trials for Frailty: ICFSR Task Force 2018

To reduce disability and dependence in older adults, frailty may represent an appropriate target for intervention. While preventing frailty through lifestyle interventions may be the optimal public health approach for many population groups, pharmacological approaches will likely be needed for individuals who meet frailty criteria or who have comorbid conditions that contribute to and complicate the frailty syndrome, and for those who are not compliant with lifestyle interventions. Barriers to successful development of drug treatments for frailty include variability in how the frailty syndrome is defined, lack of agreement on the best diagnostic tools and outcome measures, and the paucity of sensitive, reliable, and validated biomarkers. The International Conference on Frailty and Sarcopenia Research Task Force met in Miami, Florida, on February 28, 2018, to consider the status of treatments under development for frailty and discuss potential strategies for advancing the field. They concluded that at the present time, there may be a more productive regulatory pathway for adjuvant treatments or trials targeting specific functional outcomes such as gait speed. They also expressed optimism that several studies currently underway may provide the insight needed to advance drug development for frailty.