'Tis the Season: SABCS 2025 to Highlight Latest Advances Across the Breast Cancer Continuum

Amid the busy holiday season, global stakeholders will gather in San Antonio this week for the 48th annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS) to explore the latest advances in breast cancer care and research.

SABCS 2025 will spotlight new advances in breast cancer research while offering networking opportunities to foster connections among attendees. | Image Credit: Kovacs - stock.adobe.com

SABCS 2025 To Feature Hot Topics, Emerging Breast Cancer Insights, Latest Data

SABCS 2025 kicks off tomorrow morning at the Henry B. González Convention Center with concurrent special sessions covering 3 major topics: the impact of alcohol consumption on breast cancer risk, updates on lobular breast cancer, and breast cancer in young women.1 Last year’s record-breaking meeting set a high bar, drawing over 11,000 attendees from more than 100 countries, including researchers, clinicians, survivors, and patient advocates.2

As in past years, the program spans the full breast cancer continuum, from prevention and diagnosis to therapy and long-term care. Attendees can participate in any of the 15 educational sessions on hot topics such as artificial intelligence, emerging treatment frontiers, and hormone replacement therapy in breast cancer care.1 Additional learning opportunities include workshops and career development presentations.

Debuting this year, the “Best of AACR” session on Tuesday afternoon will spotlight and follow up on notable breast cancer research presented at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting in Chicago earlier this year. Another new session, “Beyond Cancer: Addressing Body Image, Hair Loss, and Skin Health After Treatment,” will feature a roundtable discussion on key survivorship topics on Friday afternoon.

“The education settings are very good for setting foundational knowledge and updating what’s going on in the field, whether it’s laboratory techniques for discovery, clinical care focuses, or a focus on policy and survivorship issues,” Kate Larthrop, MD, SABCS program director, said in a news release. “We try to have a really broad representation.”

As always, new research, including highly anticipated trial results and late-breaking data, will be presented through general sessions, poster spotlights, and other programming throughout the week. Phase 3 data of note include:

• HER2CLIMB-05 trial (NCT05132582), which examined adding tucatinib (Tukysa; Pfizer) to first-line maintenance therapy for patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer3
• LidERA trial (NCT04961996), which evaluated giredestrant (Genentech) vs standard therapy for medium- to high-risk early-stage estrogen receptor-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer4
• DESTINY-Breast11 (NCT05113251), which investigated neoadjuvant trastuzumab deruxtecan (Enhertu; AstraZeneca)-based approaches in high-risk early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer5

Beyond Traditional Learning

Attendees can also explore new research through the poster abstracts in the exhibition hall from Wednesday to Friday, with 5 dedicated poster sessions offering opportunities to connect directly with authors.6 Beyond posters, the exhibition hall will feature representatives from more than 100 leading industry and nonprofit organizations, light refreshments, a wellness lounge with massage therapy services and therapy dogs, and a headshot lounge for professional portraits.

The daily program includes breaks and networking periods, providing attendees with opportunities to recharge, reconnect with peers, and form new relationships.7 Outside the formal program, all attendees are invited to the second annual SABCS Celebration on Thursday, December 11, from 8 to 10:30 PM at the Grand Hyatt San Antonio River Walk for an evening of “music, food and drink, and fellowship.”

“It can be hard out there doing this work,” Larthrop said in a news release. “People go to SABCS to restart that engine a little bit and to feel that community around them… people who trained together and people who used to work together can connect, and then people who are strangers connect, too.”

References

1. Explore the full SABCS 2025 program now. News release. SABCS. September 8, 2025. Accessed December 8, 2025. https://www.sabcsmeetingnews.org/explore-the-full-sabcs-2025-program-now/
2. Register today for SABCS 2025. News release. SABCS. September 8, 2025. Accessed December 8, 2025. https://www.sabcsmeetingnews.org/register-today-for-sabcs-2025/
3. A study of tucatinib or placebo with trastuzumab and pertuzumab for metastatic HER2+ breast cancer (HER2CLIMB-05). ClinicalTrials.gov. Updated December 4, 2025. Accessed December 8, 2025. https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05132582
4. A study evaluating the efficacy and safety of adjuvant giredestrant compared with physician's choice of adjuvant endocrine monotherapy in participants with estrogen receptor-positive, HER2-negative early breast cancer (lidERA breast cancer). ClinicalTrials.gov. Updated November 21, 2025. Accessed December 8, 2025. https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT04961996
5. Trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd) alone or in sequence with THP, versus standard treatment (ddAC-THP), in HER2-positive early breast cancer. ClinicalTrials.gov. Updated November 18, 2025. Accessed December 8, 2025. https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05113251
6. SABCS exhibition to showcase breast cancer innovation, partnerships. SABCS. September 23, 2025. Accessed December 8, 2025. https://www.sabcsmeetingnews.org/sabcs-exhibition-to-showcase-breast-cancer-innovation-partnerships/
7. Gather in person with the SABCS community. News release. SABCS. September 8, 2025. Accessed December 8, 2025. https://www.sabcsmeetingnews.org/gather-in-person-with-the-sabcs-community/