This week, the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS 2025) became a stage for international progress and innovation in breast cancer care. From cutting-edge therapies to research that focuses on how patients feel while living with cancer, the updates shared are shaping the future of treatment and patient experiences.

SABCS 2025 highlighted exciting new treatment options for patients across all stages of breast cancer:

• For those with hormone receptor-positive early breast cancer, a new drug called Giredestrant offers the first new approach in 20 years to block hormones that can fuel cancer growth. Early results from the Phase 3 lidERA trial suggest it may reduce the risk of cancer returning after three years of treatment, and patients may experience fewer harsh side effects than with older hormone blocking therapies.
  
  
• For people with advanced triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), Trodelvy is showing promise in helping patients maintain their daily activities and quality of life longer than standard chemotherapy. While some stomach side effects were reported, most patients did not feel any worse overall. The ability to continue with normal routines is a critical consideration for those navigating intensive treatment.
  
  
• Meanwhile, in HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer, the combination of ENHERTU and PERJETA is emerging as a new first-line treatment option. Data from the DESTINY-Breast09 study suggest this combination can help patients manage pain, stay active, and enjoy some quality-of-life benefits compared to standard HER2 treatment with chemotherapy regimens, though side effect profiles differ between the 2 treatments studied in the clinical trial. Patient discussion of these differences is important as a shared treatment decision with a medical oncologist.
  
  
• Among the highlights, Canadian data from Vancouver showcased the promise of immunotherapy for people with metastatic breast cancer. Their Phase 2 data revealed encouraging long-term survival, even in patients living with brain metastases. Meanwhile, ongoing Phase 3 biomarker research is helping clinicians understand which patients are most likely to respond to therapy. Perhaps most importantly, the treatment was well tolerated, with no patients needing to stop due to side effects: a reminder of that effective care can also be manageable.

What ties all these updates together is a central theme: research is moving beyond survival outcomes to focus on patient values to live well with breast cancer. Canadian teams are at the forefront of this progress, not only developing innovative treatments and managing these clinical trials for patients to access but also providing the evidence and tools to support personalized care. 

For patients, this means a future with more options, better-informed decisions, and treatments that consider both effectiveness and daily life.At Breast Cancer Canada, we will continue to monitor new research, Health Canada reviews, and emerging data to ensure that people affected by breast cancer are aware of the progress that new research is delivering in therapies and tools.