Science is celebrating another achievement in Brazil: a 100% national technology that promises to revolutionize the treatment of blood cancer in the country. A program launched this week in São Paulo expects 300 patients a year.
Medical student Lucas Visconti suffered from leukemia for five years. Chemotherapy and even bone marrow transplant. But the disease returned.
But hope came when he became involved in research into the cuttingedge treatment for blood cancer, a therapy using cells from the immune system itself, manipulated and enhanced to fight the disease.
It was a win. After 26 days in the hospital, Lucas got the disease under control.
“Extremely happy, extremely grateful to have received such an innovative and effective treatment, right?” says he, who plays volleyball.
This form of therapy with modified T lymphocytes was approved in the USA five years ago. Then in Europe, China, Australia and Canada.
American Emily turned 17 in May. At the age of 7 she was the first child in the world to receive this treatment. Ten years have passed and she and her father never tire of telling the story.
“It was my daughter’s rebirth,” says Tom, Emily’s father.
The doctor. Stephen Grupp thought the girl wouldn’t fight back. These were the first tests and the doctors still didn’t know how to check the reactions. After three weeks it worked. Emily is healed. The therapy is now much safer and is already being used worldwide. Emily’s father set up a foundation to fight for access to treatment for all. In the USA, the therapy is covered by health insurance.
After almost 20 years of research with public funds, Brazilian scientists in São Paulo have already succeeded in producing the drug from modified T cells. And at a much lower price than treatment abroad.
The Ribeirão Preto Blood Center and USP Medical Schools have partnered with Institut Butantã to carry out treatments in the country. Prior to this, it is necessary to go through the clinical testing phase, which depends on the approval of Anvisa.
Butantan’s director, hematologist Dimas Covas, says the research process will be fully automated and will be carried out by machines imported from Germany. The cost per treatment is around R$ 100,000 per patient. It’s still expensive, but it’s only 2% of an imported treatment.
“In the US, cell production is about $400,000, about R$2 million. We have developed our own technology that will give us independence and we will soon be making it available to the public in the SUS. We hope that this will happen over the next year,” says Dimas Covas.
The Albert Einstein Hospital in SP is also in the final stages of Anvisa’s clinical trial approval process.
So far, modified T cells have only been approved for some very advanced forms of lymphoma, acute leukemia and multiple myeloma. The new therapy, which is only used in very seriously ill patients, achieves complete remission rates of between 80 and 90%. And doctors only speak of healing after five years without an illness.
How does the treatment work?
Tcells from the body’s own defense system are taken from the patient. In a lab, they are given a piece of DNA containing new genetic information. This modification causes the cell to produce a molecule that scientists call a chimeric antigen receptor. Or CAR, in its English acronym.
The modified T cell begins to recognize cancer cells. It’s as if the patient’s defenses were given a more efficient laser sight. When this cell is brought back into the person’s body, it multiplies and fights the cancer much more powerfully and efficiently. In the USA, scientists call this process “living medicine”.
The reaction is very strong and treatment must be in hospitals that specialize in controlling the inflammation caused by this increased fight against cancer.
Professor Rosângela faced the treatment and took part in the testing phase of the drug imported from the United States in the research of doctor Marcos Salvino.
“I felt weak and had no control over my body. And fever, I had fever every day… My body started to react,” she says, who in 20 days had already overcome the treatment and the disease.
“The revolution is in the treatment model to get rid of that chemotherapy thing we know: hair loss, nausea. It is the attacking body cell. But the other revolution is the results, right? The effectiveness rates of these therapies are very high and far exceed what we had before,” says the doctor.
Without a national option, the imported drug is expensive for the time being. There are already lawsuits in court asking the SUS to take over the treatment. No decision so far. The health insurance companies, which usually cover other cancer procedures, are still discussing the assumption of costs.
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