The ASBMR Annual Meeting 2024 took place in the city of Toronto from the 26th till the 30th of September this year. The city on its own, with the famous CN tower, the unique Toronto Music Garden, the Kensington Market or the Royal Ontario Museum among much more to see and do, is worth travelling to Canada, but the main focus of ‘Bone Enthusiasts’ was the outstanding scientific program of the meeting framed by social events supporting exchange with colleagues all over the world.
One highlight of the Annual Meeting was the ASBMR/ECTS Clinical Debate which took place on Friday afternoon and was chaired by ASBMR president Laura Calvi and ECTS past-president Bo Abrahamsen. Topic of the debate in which Theresa Guise and Mathew Drake from ASBMR argued against and Peyman Hadji and Georg Pfeiler from ECTS argued for the motion was the question, whether denosumab should be first line therapy for (early) breast cancer patients treated with hormonal (aromatase inhibitor) therapy. The voting by the audience before the debate demonstrated that the majority (about 70%) was against the motion. Prof. Guise and Prof. Drake elegantly showed that – among other arguments – the loss of bone mineral density with increased fracture risk after stopping denosumab – the so called ‘rebound’ – as well as the high efficacy of bisphosphonates with a vast amount of clinical data and experience should be arguments against the motion. Peyman Hadji and Georg Pfeiler hit back by demonstrating data on a tremendous fracture risk reduction achieved by denosumab, which has not been shown as a primary endpoint in trials with bisphosphonates and they showed standardized procedures to overcome the rebound after stopping the antibody therapy. After a lively discussion of the four speakers with the audience, the voting thereafter showed an increase of members for the motion resulting in a glorious victory for the ECTS represented Peyman Hadji and Georg Pfeiler.
Without any doubt, the ASBMR will try to gain back the ‘Golden Femur’ which may be achieved soon at the ECTS Annual Meeting in Innsbruck 2025 (May 23rd to May 26th) with the topic: ‘This house believes that DXA measurements should be a mandatory part of the management of individuals with type 2 diabetes’ We are looking forward to this debate.