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SABCS 2026

49th San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium — Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, San Antonio, TX · Dec 8 – 11, 2026. ~10,000 attendees from >105 countries — the largest breast-cancer-specific meeting in the world.

Status: Scaffold — meeting is 7 months out as of today (May 11, 2026). Structure is landing now so the abstract-deadline cycle (Jul 13, 2026), late-breaking acceptance window (Sep–Oct 2026), and live-coverage build (Dec 8–11) can be staged on top. Abstract titles, late-breaking slate, and embargo timing are not yet public; the 2026 program will be released in stages from October onward. Everything in this vault dated before its embargo lift is reconstructed from company topline press releases, prior-year SABCS coverage, and analyst preview notes — flagged inline.

Why this is in the vault

SABCS is the breast-cancer practice-changing readout venue. While ASCO is the broader clinical-oncology stage and ESMO sits in the middle of the year, SABCS owns December and owns breast: the major HR+/HER2-, HER2+, and TNBC randomized phase 3 trials read out here when they miss the ASCO/ESMO cycle, and a substantial fraction of NCCN breast-guideline updates trace to a SABCS GS-session number. The signature franchise readouts of the past decade — POSITIVE (pregnancy interruption of endocrine therapy), monarchE (adjuvant abemaciclib), KEYNOTE-756 (neoadjuvant pembro in HR+ EBC), EMBER-3 (imlunestrant SERD), the DESTINY-Breast series (trastuzumab deruxtecan across HER2 lines) — landed at SABCS first.

Strong overlap with the AACR 2026 clinical-trials axis: SABCS is co-organized by AACR in partnership with UT Health San Antonio and UT Southwestern. Co-directors Carlos Arteaga (UTSW) and Virginia Kaklamani (UT Health SA) sit at the AACR–clinical interface. Many AACR 2026 mechanism / biomarker sessions (HER2-low/ultralow definition, ctDNA-MRD adjuvant decision-making, post-CDK4/6 endocrine biology, brain-metastasis ADC penetration) have direct SABCS 2026 clinical-readout counterparts.

Format note (and the design decision behind this vault): SABCS is clinical-readout-driven, breast-only, with strong translational/basic-science threads. The per-tool template that loads the EuroBioC2025 / GBCC2025 / ISMB 2026 vaults does not fit. The closest sibling in shape is ASCO 2026 — the per-trial / per-readout entry is the primary artifact. See trials/index.md for the schema, which mirrors ASCO's.

Unlike ASCO's 7,000-abstract corpus, SABCS publishes a tighter program (~2,500 abstracts across General Sessions, Mini-Symposia, Spotlight Discussions, Ongoing Trials posters, and the basic/translational science poster floor) — so the per-trial coverage is deeper and more selective than the ASCO Meeting Library workflow.

What we have / will have to work with

Source Coverage Notes
SABCS Online Program session grid, GS slate, Plenary lectures, mini-symposia sabcs.org — typically released October pre-meeting
SABCS Abstracts (Cancer Research / OUP) full-text abstracts published in Cancer Research supplement, day of presentation OUP-hosted; permalinks per abstract
AACR SABCS landing page AACR-side editorial coverage; CME credit aacr.org SABCS
SABCS Meeting News official daily editorial during meeting distributed on-site and via web; first-pass session recaps
Best of SABCS post-meeting expert highlights program curated review by panel chairs, runs Jan–Mar post-meeting
OncLive / Targeted Oncology / CancerNetwork discussant-level depth, KOL video stand-ups breast-specific track coverage is strongest at OncLive
The ASCO Post weekly recap issues December – February ascopost.com covers SABCS year over year
Evaluate / ApexOnco / BioPharma Dive / Endpoints / STAT analyst framing, sponsor stock reactions sub-required for some; STAT typically runs day-of recaps
Company press releases toplines (often pre-embargo), full presentation decks (post-presentation) the major sponsors (Lilly, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Roche/Genentech, Daiichi Sankyo, Gilead, Novartis, Menarini/Stemline, MSD) all release toplines
Social #SABCS26 on X / Bluesky useful for real-time room reactions; not primary

The SABCS abstract supplement in Cancer Research is the load-bearing primary source — every accepted abstract gets a citable DOI in the OUP-hosted supplement. Per-trial pages should cite the Cancer Research DOI / abstract permalink, not the company press release.

Program shape

SABCS 2026 runs Tuesday December 8 through Friday December 11, 2026, four days, Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center. The structure (per recurring SABCS pattern):

  • General Sessions (GS1–GS6) — the practice-changing slots. Two GS sessions per day across the four meeting days, typically 5–6 abstracts per session. Discussants assigned per session, not per abstract. GS slots are where the big randomized phase 3 readouts land (monarchE, KEYNOTE-756, DESTINY-Breast in prior years).
  • Plenary Lectures — named-award lectures: William L. McGuire Memorial Lecture, AACR Distinguished Lectureship in Breast Cancer Research, Brinker Awards, and named keynotes. Bookend the meeting.
  • Mini-Symposia (MS1–MS6+) — translational/basic-science thematic sessions, typically 6–8 short talks each. Heavy biology content — single-cell, spatial, ctDNA biology, resistance mechanisms.
  • Spotlight Discussions / Rapid-Fire Orals — shorter-format presentation slots layered between GS and MS.
  • Ongoing Trials posters — the pre-readout pipeline; tracks what's in flight for 2027+.
  • Poster floor — ~2,000 posters across translational, clinical, prevention, survivorship, and basic biology.
  • Educational sessions / Forums / Case discussions — for the practicing-clinician audience.
  • Press program — embargoed media briefings each morning; SABCS Meeting News daily.

Expected tracks dominating the 2026 corpus (based on prior-year load + 2026 pipeline state):

  • HR+/HER2- — post-CDK4/6 sequencing, next-gen oral SERDs (camizestrant, imlunestrant, vepdegestrant), ESR1-mut detection / switch designs, CDK2/4 selective inhibitors, PROTACs.
  • HER2+ — DESTINY-Breast series continued read-through (DB-09 1L; DB-05/-11 adjuvant pipelines), zanidatamab/anbenitamab biparatopic class, brain-metastasis ADC penetration.
  • TNBC — TROPiCS-02 / ASCENT-04 follow-up (TROP2 ADCs); pembro + chemo combinations; AR+ TNBC; LAR / immune subtype targeting.
  • Early-stage adjuvant — monarchE long-term follow-up, NATALEE follow-up (ribociclib adjuvant), KEYNOTE-756 follow-up (neoadjuvant pembro HR+ EBC).
  • Neoadjuvant — KEYNOTE-756 confirmatory data, HER2+ de-escalation, TNBC pCR-to-EFS link, novel ADC neoadj.
  • ctDNA / biomarker development — MRD-guided adjuvant decisions (DARE / LEADER / c-TRAK-TN follow-up), HER2-ultralow assay standardization.
  • Brain metastases — DESTINY-Breast12 update, tucatinib + T-DXd combinations, intrathecal regimens.
  • Survivorship / prevention / health disparities — POSITIVE-style fertility / pregnancy interruption follow-up, chemoprevention, lifestyle / GLP-1 in breast cancer.

Organization

conferences/sabcs-2026/
├── index.md             # this page
├── program-notes.md     # pre-meeting prep: tracks, GS preview, expected LBAs, anticipated readouts, key dates
├── trials/              # PRIMARY artifact — one entry per trial / readout
│   └── index.md         # template + master trial index table
├── themes.md            # cross-day synthesis (deferred until post-meeting)
└── digest/              # day-by-day recap (deferred until post-meeting)
    ├── day-1-tuesday.md     # Dec 8 — opening, McGuire Lecture, first GS
    ├── day-2-wednesday.md   # Dec 9 — GS sessions, mini-symposia
    ├── day-3-thursday.md    # Dec 10 — GS sessions, late-stage HR+/HER2- readouts
    └── day-4-friday.md      # Dec 11 — closing GS, summary plenary

The trials/ directory is load-bearing. Each trial gets one Markdown file. Template at trials/index.md. Expected ~30–50 entries spanning the GS slate, top late-breakers, and ongoing-trial updates.

What's different from ASCO 2026

  • Breast-only. Single disease focus means deeper cross-trial comparisons (e.g., the entire CDK4/6 + endocrine SOC question is debated in one room, not split across GU/GI/Heme).
  • AACR co-organization shows up. Strong translational/basic-science programming via Mini-Symposia — closer to AACR-style mechanism content than ASCO's pure clinical orientation.
  • December timing matters. SABCS is the last major oncology readout of the calendar year, immediately preceding ASH 2026 (Dec 12–15 in the same week historically). The 2026 SABCS-then-ASH back-to-back is a key calendar feature for breast/heme cross-disease investigators.
  • Smaller corpus, deeper discussion. ~2,500 abstracts vs ASCO's ~7,000, so each GS session gets more discussant time and the post-meeting debate runs longer.
  • Best of SABCS post-meeting program (Jan–Mar 2027) is itself a useful synthesis source — captures how the field digested the readouts.
  • ASCO 2026 — the closest sibling vault in shape (per-trial template, public-coverage-driven, no slide decks pre-released). Multiple sponsors and several trial families (ASCENT-04, SERENA-6, DESTINY-Breast) appear in both vaults.
  • AACR 2026 — the co-organizer. AACR 2026 breast-cancer mechanism sessions (HER2-low biology, ESR1-mut detection, ctDNA-MRD assay development) feed forward to SABCS 2026 clinical readouts.
  • JPM 2026 — the financing layer. Multiple SABCS 2026 sponsors (AstraZeneca, Lilly, Pfizer, Roche, Daiichi Sankyo, Gilead, Menarini/Stemline, Novartis) presented at JPM in January with breast pipeline updates and 2026 readout guidance.
  • Conferences timeline — SABCS's position in the year's oncology cycle (AACR Apr → ASCO May/Jun → ESMO Oct → SABCS Dec → ASH Dec → JPM Jan).

Next steps

  • Now (7 months pre-meeting, May 11): scaffold landing — this page + program-notes.md + trials/index.md. Track sponsor 2026 readout guidance from JPM 2026 → Q1/Q2 earnings calls.
  • Pre-meeting (Jul 13, 2026): abstract submission deadline — sponsor topline cadence accelerates Q3.
  • Pre-meeting (Oct–Nov 2026): SABCS program release; late-breaking acceptance window. Populate program-notes.md GS slate and expected-readout shortlist.
  • Live meeting (Dec 8–11, 2026): real-time capture per day-digest. GS sessions are the high-priority slots; named-lecture content captured separately.
  • Post-meeting (Dec 12, 2026 – Feb 2027): finalize themes.md. Best of SABCS (Jan–Mar 2027) provides synthesis input.

Sources