06/10/2026 | A Metrópole Sorocabana via agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br

https://ametropolesorocabana.com.br/terapia-car-t-cell-mostra-resposta-de-875-em-pacientes-com-linfoma/ 

A study using CAR-T cell therapy for the treatment of lymphoma and leukemia achieved an 87.5% response rate in patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma who had previously undergone other unsuccessful treatments, such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and transplantation. 

The research was conducted at the Ribeirão Preto Blood Center, in partnership with the Butantan Institute and the Ministry of Health. 

The results are preliminary and were presented on Wednesday (10) by the Ministry of Health, which invested R$ 100 million in the research.

“The results are very encouraging and offer hope to patients who need this treatment. The Innovation Committee, composed of directors from Anvisa [National Health Surveillance Agency], emphasized that it will treat this product as an innovative product and, as a result, accelerate the evaluation and monitoring that are already being conducted on an ongoing basis by Anvisa’s technical team,” said Health Minister Alexandre Padilha.

The minister explained that, as the study is still ongoing, new patients will continue to be recruited, following international standards.

“Patients must be monitored for at least one year from the date of therapy administration to analyze safety and efficacy markers,” said Padilha. Since the last patient was enrolled in May, it is estimated that it will take about a year and a half to complete the analyses and potentially approve the registration.

Currently, a similar treatment in the private sector costs R$ 2.5 million. The government expects that, once incorporated into the SUS, the treatment will be offered completely free of charge. 

The Ministry of Health’s acquisition cost should also be reduced due to the scale of production and the fact that it involves public and nonprofit institutions. The plant in Ribeirão Preto, cited as the largest in Latin America and the Global South, has the capacity to produce up to 1,000 therapies of this type.

Focus on children and adolescents
The CAR-T Cell clinical trial also includes children and adolescents. In the case of acute lymphoid leukemia, the most common childhood cancer, accounting for 70% to 80% of pediatric cases, the recruited patients are between three and 25 years of age. 

Although more than 90% of children respond well to conventional chemotherapy, cell therapy emerges as a vital alternative for the 10% who do not respond to standard treatment. As for lymphomas, whose prevalence is significantly lower in children, recruitment is focused on those over 18 years of age.

Genomas Program
Padilha also noted that the federal government has allocated R$ 180 million for the second phase of the Genomas Brasil program. The project, which has been in place since 2020 and has USP Ribeirão Preto as one of its hubs, will now include new universities, such as the University of Brasília (UnB), which will host the first laboratory of its kind in the Midwest region, as well as additional SUS hospitals.

“The Genomes project is a source of pride for the country. Brazil is one of the countries with the greatest genomic diversity, according to project data. This makes Brazil a country with great potential for drug development,” the minister emphasized.

He also noted that the new clinical research law, signed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has reduced bureaucracy and shortened approval timelines for studies in the country, which is expected to increase Brazil’s participation in the international clinical research landscape by 30% by 2025.

“Exome mapping, made possible by the project’s partner laboratories, is now guaranteed by the Ministry of Health for all SUS specialty centers. This technology allows for the diagnosis of rare diseases in children—which previously took about seven years—to be performed within the first six months of life, enabling earlier treatment and improving patients’ quality of life,” stated Padilha.