Program notes — ESMO 2026¶
Internal pre-meeting working file. Tracks, Presidential Symposia preview, expected LBAs, discussant watch list, key dates. Status: 5 months pre-meeting (as of May 11, 2026). The official ESMO 2026 program is not yet public — it publishes around July/August 2026. Everything below pre-program is flagged.
Key dates¶
| Date | Event | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| May 12, 2026 | Regular abstract submission deadline | 21:00 CEST. Authors with late-breaker plans submit a preliminary "intent to submit a late-breaking abstract" with title, methods, expected results. |
| ~Jun – Jul 2026 | Abstract acceptance notifications | Authors notified of accepted regular abstracts. |
| ~Jul – Aug 2026 | ESMO Online Programme publishes | Session grid, named Presidential Symposia LBAs (slot positions), Proffered Paper assignments. This is the first public window into the actual 2026 slate. |
| Sep 8, 2026 | Late-breaker abstract deadline (finalised) | 21:00 CEST. LBA results / final data due. |
| ~Late Sep 2026 | Late-breaker acceptance + slot assignments | Discussant assignments typically follow within ~2 weeks. |
| ~Early Oct 2026 | Pre-meeting analyst previews | ApexOnco / OncLive / Targeted Oncology / Evaluate previews. Company toplines for accepted LBAs typically released in the 2–4 weeks before the meeting. |
| Oct 23, 2026 (Fri) | Meeting opens | Educational sessions + first oral abstract sessions; some Day-1 LBAs released morning of. |
| Oct 24, 2026 (Sat) | Day 2 — Presidential Symposium I (typical) | Embargo lifts day-of for LBAs in this session. 2026 session day TBD — historical pattern places Presidential I on Saturday. |
| Oct 25, 2026 (Sun) | Day 3 — Presidential Symposium II (typical) | Same embargo pattern. |
| Oct 26, 2026 (Mon) | Day 4 — Presidential Symposium III (typical) | Same embargo pattern. |
| Oct 27, 2026 (Tue) | Closing | Final oral sessions; later-track readouts. |
| Oct 28, 2026 onward | Post-meeting recap window | ESMO Daily Reporter wrap issue; OncLive / The ASCO Post / CancerNetwork weekly recaps through November. Annals of Oncology Abstract Book supplement publishes online post-Congress. |
Sources: ESMO Congress 2026 home, Abstract page, Programme page, Venue (IFEMA Madrid).
Venue¶
IFEMA Madrid (Feria de Madrid), Av. del Partenón 5, 28042 Madrid, Spain. The same congress center that hosts EHA and major European industry conferences; large enough for ESMO's ~30,000-attendee scale. ifema.es/en/esmo-congress.
ESMO rotates among major European host cities. The recent sequence: Madrid 2023 → Barcelona 2024 → Berlin 2025 → Madrid 2026 → (cycle continues, future cities TBA). The Madrid IFEMA setup is well-known to attendees from 2023.
Presidential Symposia — preview (historical pattern; 2026 slate not yet public)¶
ESMO Congress places its practice-changing trials in three Presidential Symposia rather than ASCO's single Plenary. Per the ESMO 2024 / 2025 pattern, expect:
- Presidential Symposium I (typically Saturday afternoon) — 4 LBAs, often anchored by a major breast-cancer or lung-cancer readout. ESMO 2025 placed DESTINY-Breast11 + DESTINY-Breast05 here.
- Presidential Symposium II (typically Sunday afternoon) — 4 LBAs, often lung / GI / GU. ESMO 2025 placed HARMONi-6 PFS + OptiTROP-Lung04 here.
- Presidential Symposium III (typically Monday afternoon) — 4 LBAs, often the cross-cutting / late-arrival slot. ESMO 2025 anchored this on ctDNA-guided trials (IMvigor011 MIBC, DYNAMIC-III CRC).
Each Presidential LBA is paired with a named discussant — typically the senior figure in the relevant European disease group. Discussant assignments publish with the program (~Jul/Aug) and finalize after the late-breaker deadline (Sep 8).
The ESMO 2026 Presidential Symposia slate is not yet public and will not be until the Online Programme publishes. The table above describes the historical structure, not the 2026 content.
Tracks — what to expect¶
ESMO uses a comprehensive track structure. The high-volume / high-attention tracks (per ESMO 2024 / 2025 abstract counts):
Breast¶
- HR+/HER2- (CDK4/6 post-progression, oral SERD class — evERA, SERENA-6 follow-ups)
- HER2+ (DESTINY-Breast05 / DESTINY-Breast11 follow-ups; SATEEN ADC-after-ADC)
- TNBC (ASCENT-04 OS, Dato-DXd patient-reported outcomes)
- Early-stage adjuvant (DESTINY-Breast05 iDFS)
Lung & Thoracic¶
- NSCLC 1L (HARMONi-6 OS update, PD-1×VEGF bispecific class; OptiTROP-Lung04 follow-up)
- NSCLC adjuvant / perioperative (LIBRETTO-432 OS / subgroup; ALCHEMIST follow-up)
- SCLC (TRIPLEX follow-up if positive at ASCO 2026; DLL3 bispecific class — obrixtamig)
- Mesothelioma + thymic (smaller but ESMO-traditional)
GI Oncology¶
- Upper GI: DESTINY-Gastric05 (1L HER2+ gastric, AZ flagged H2 2026), HERIZON-GEA-01 follow-up, FGFR2b bemarituzumab class follow-up
- CRC: ctDNA-guided trials (DYNAMIC-III follow-up + new entrants), BRAF-V600E (BREAKWATER follow-up), amivantamab OrigAMI-1 durability
- HBP / pancreatic: Rasolute-302 OS / subgroup confirmation, KRAS-G12D early-phase combos, HCC IO combinations
- Neuroendocrine: ATLANTIS, NETTER follow-ups
GU¶
- Prostate: PROTEUS OS follow-up (if reads at ASCO), PEACE-3 mature OS, actinium-225 PSMA dose escalation
- Bladder: KEYNOTE-B15 EFS / full data, IMvigor011 follow-up
- Kidney: LITESPARK-022 follow-up, LITESPARK-011, CheckMate adjuvant follow-ups, COSMIC-313 long-term
Hematological¶
- Lymphoma (frontMIND OS, DLBCL bispecifics)
- Myeloma (MajesTEC, RedirecTT follow-ups)
- AML / MDS (menin inhibitor real-world data)
Melanoma¶
- Adjuvant IO (KEYNOTE-942 / IDV-MEL follow-up, mRNA-4157 if matured)
- Uveal (OptimUM-02 follow-up if positive at ASCO)
Cross-cutting / other¶
- Sarcoma (SARC041 follow-up if positive at ASCO)
- GYN (PARP / IO follow-ups, endometrial dostarlimab maintenance)
- Head & Neck (KEYNOTE-689 perioperative, HPV-driven IO)
- CNS (low-grade glioma IDH; vorasidenib follow-up)
- Endocrine / NET (Lu-DOTATATE follow-ups)
- Developmental Therapeutics (early-phase bispecifics, ADCs, radioligands)
- Geriatric / Supportive / Palliative (ESMO traditional strength; cachexia + GLP-1 in oncology)
- Real-world evidence + Health Services
Expected European-led trials and EU-track readouts¶
ESMO often hosts trials that pick the European meeting as the disclosure venue (academic-led, EMA-track, or EU cooperative group). Conservative shortlist of candidates — all speculative pre-program:
| Sponsor / group | Trial / topic | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| EORTC | PEACE-3 mature OS; EORTC-1325 melanoma adjuvant long-term; perioperative bladder follow-up | EORTC-led trials traditionally prefer ESMO |
| GBG (German Breast Group) | GeparX / NeoTRIP follow-ups; HR+ adjuvant trials | Heavy ESMO presence |
| GETUG (French GU group) | GETUG-AFU prostate adjuvant; bladder adjuvant | Often ESMO-first |
| AGITG (Australasian GI) | DYNAMIC follow-up (already at ESMO 2025); new ctDNA trials | ESMO 2025 Presidential history |
| GERCOR (French GI) | PRODIGE follow-ups; pancreatic + CRC | ESMO-native |
| ICORG / Cancer Trials Ireland | Various phase 2-3 | Smaller volume |
| AZ / Daiichi | DESTINY-Breast05 OS, DESTINY-Gastric05, DESTINY-Lung follow-ups | EU + global filings |
| Roche | evERA follow-up, Itovebi follow-up, Phesgo class | Basel-headquartered, ESMO is home meeting |
| Lilly (Loxo) | LIBRETTO-432 OS, Verzenio adjuvant follow-up | Cross-listed with ASCO |
| Merck | LITESPARK-022 + 011 follow-ups, KEYNOTE-689 H&N, KEYNOTE-B15 EFS | |
| Akeso / Summit | HARMONi-6 OS / longer follow-up, HARMONi-2 OS follow-up, ivonescimab pipeline | |
| AbbVie | RC148 (PD-1×VEGF, Summit-licensed Sept 2025 $5.6B JPM deal) first phase data | A class read-through moment if data lands |
| BMS | Pumitamig (PD-1×VEGF) phase 2 / 3 first look | Same class story |
| Revolution Medicines | Rasolute-302 OS confirm + subgroup, daraxonrasib non-PDAC | Following ASCO 2026 Plenary readout |
| Gilead | ASCENT-04 OS, Trodelvy in HR+/HER2- 2L+ (TROPiCS-02 long-term), SATEEN | |
| Daiichi | T-DXd cross-tumor, novel ADCs (HER3-DXd, B7-H3-DXd, Dato-DXd PROs) | Heavy ESMO slate every year |
Embargo policy¶
Critical differences vs ASCO:
- ESMO holds copyright on accepted abstracts (per ESMO 2026 abstract regulations). Abstracts cannot be made public prior to official publication.
- Regular abstracts are not released weeks ahead (the way ASCO releases titles in April and full text in May). Accepted regular abstracts typically appear online on the day prior to or the day of presentation.
- Late-breakers are day-of at embargo lift, timed to the start of the session.
- ESMO reserves the right to share material under embargo with journalists on the authorised ESMO media list who have agreed to respect the embargo policy.
- Abstract Book publishes post-Congress, online only, as a supplement to Annals of Oncology — every accepted abstract gets a citable Annals of Oncology DOI reference.
Practical implication for this vault: less pre-meeting reconstruction is possible than for ASCO. The pre-meeting build relies on (a) company topline press releases, (b) analyst previews (ApexOnco, OncLive, Targeted Oncology), and (c) the published program (~Jul/Aug). Most per-trial pages won't get populated until the meeting starts.
Discussant watch list¶
Discussant identity is signal-rich at ESMO. Senior European figures in each disease group are typically named when the program publishes (~Jul/Aug). Names to expect / track (based on prior-year ESMO patterns, not yet confirmed for 2026):
- Breast (HR+/HER2-): Nadia Harbeck (LMU Munich), Fabrice Andre (Gustave Roussy), Giuseppe Curigliano (IEO Milan), Peter Schmid (Barts London)
- Breast (HER2+): Javier Cortes (IOB Madrid — local at this venue), Sara Tolaney (Dana-Farber, often crosses Atlantic for ESMO), Giuseppe Curigliano
- Breast (TNBC): Peter Schmid (Barts London), Lisa Carey (UNC), Hope Rugo (UCSF/UCLA)
- Lung (1L NSCLC): Solange Peters (CHUV Lausanne, past ESMO President), Filippo de Marinis (IEO Milan), Rolf Stahel
- Lung (adjuvant): Pasi Janne (Dana-Farber), Enriqueta Felip (Vall d'Hebron, local at this venue)
- GI (CRC): Eric Van Cutsem (Leuven), Josep Tabernero (Vall d'Hebron, local), Andres Cervantes (Valencia, local)
- GI (gastric): Florian Lordick (Leipzig), Yelena Janjigian (MSK), Salah-Eddin Al-Batran (Frankfurt)
- GI (pancreatic): Eileen O'Reilly (MSK), Eric Van Cutsem (Leuven), Pascal Hammel (Beaujon Paris)
- GU (prostate): Karim Fizazi (Gustave Roussy), Silke Gillessen (Bellinzona), Bertrand Tombal (Cliniques Saint-Luc)
- GU (bladder): Tom Powles (Barts London), Andrea Necchi (Milan)
- GU (kidney): James Larkin (Royal Marsden), Laurence Albiges (Gustave Roussy), Manuela Schmidinger (Vienna)
- Melanoma: Caroline Robert (Gustave Roussy), Reinhard Dummer (Zurich), Georgina Long (Melanoma Institute Australia, frequent ESMO discussant)
- Lymphoma / heme: Catherine Thieblemont (Saint-Louis Paris), Martin Dreyling (LMU Munich), Pier Luigi Zinzani (Bologna)
All names above are pre-confirmation guesses based on prior-year ESMO patterns and disease-group seniority. Will be reconciled against the official program once discussants are posted with the Online Programme.
Local notes — Madrid¶
- Venue is in Campo de las Naciones (IFEMA), northeast Madrid near Madrid-Barajas airport. Metro Line 8 connects directly to the city center / airport in ~15 min.
- The same venue hosted ESMO 2023 — established logistics, large enough for the 30,000-attendee scale, multiple plenary halls.
- Late October in Madrid: typically 12–22°C, mild but variable; high probability of clear weather. No major Spanish public holidays in the meeting week.
- Spanish oncology community is strongly represented in the program — local moderator and discussant assignments to the Hospital 12 de Octubre, Vall d'Hebron Barcelona (~2.5h by AVE), IOB Madrid, La Paz, Clinica Universidad de Navarra are expected to be heavier than in non-Spanish-host years.
What's speculative vs. confirmed¶
Confirmed (sourced and dated): - Meeting dates: October 23 – 27, 2026 (ESMO Congress 2026 home) - Venue: IFEMA Madrid (venue page, IFEMA listing) - Abstract deadlines: May 12, 2026 (regular) and Sep 8, 2026 (late-breaker, finalised), per abstract page - Embargo + copyright policy (ESMO holds copyright on accepted abstracts; release coordinated with presentation) - Abstract publication venue: Annals of Oncology supplement, online only, post-Congress
Speculative — flag before publishing: - All trial-slate predictions (the ESMO 2026 program is not yet public) - All discussant identities - Presidential Symposium slate composition (the three-symposia structure is historical, not announced for 2026) - Day-by-day session assignments - Specific late-breaker numbers and ranks
Dead ends (for now)¶
- Trial-level program detail: unavailable until the ESMO Online Programme publishes (~Jul/Aug 2026). Cannot fabricate session assignments, LBA numbers, discussants, abstract numbers, or precise day/time slots.
- Full abstract text: regular abstracts release on/near presentation; LBAs at day-of embargo lift. Cannot extract abstract bodies pre-Congress.
- Slide decks / data figures: not pre-released. Available via ESMO Virtual (paid registration) or post-presentation trade-press coverage.
- ESMO 2026 vs ASCO 2026 cross-listing: trials that read at ASCO 2026 (May 29 – Jun 2) may or may not have ESMO 2026 follow-up slots. Will be reconciled once the ESMO program publishes.
- Confirmation of trial-readout timing for H2 2026: sponsor IR decks give catalyst windows (e.g., "H2 2026") but rarely pin to a specific meeting. Pre-program, "expected at ESMO" is always speculative — could land at ESMO Asia (Dec), at ASH (Dec), or as a press release without a meeting venue.