2023-05-29 15:02:00
Cancer is still a disease responsible for the death of many people all over the world, but a version of the therapy called CAR-T Cell developed by the group of researchers from the Center for Cellular Therapy of Ribeirão Preto is changing this game. The most recent victory belongs to the patient Paulo Peregrino, who had complete remission of the disease.
Tech
13 Mar
Tech
19 Dez
Paulo Peregrino is 61 years old and has been fighting the disease for 13 years and received treatment via CAR-T Cell paid for with funds from the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq ) in April of this year. Complete remission occurred in just 30 days.
The CAR-T Cell treatment was developed in 2019 in Ribeirão Preto and costs BRL 2 million per person without considering hospitalization costs, as the cells used in it are personalized for each patient. At the moment, only Brazil uses this technique in Latin America.
“Due to the high cost, this treatment is not accessible in most countries of the world. Brazil, on the other hand, is in a privileged position and has the rare opportunity to introduce this treatment in the SUS in a short period of time” , says Dimas Covas, coordinator of the CEPID-USP Cell Therapy Center and the Cell Therapy Center of the Blood Center in Ribeirão Preto, which created the national version of the treatment.
Fortunately, the University of São Paulo (USP) adopted a protocol in partnership with the Butantan Institute and the Hemocenter of Ribeirão Preto to bring cell therapy to the public health network.
So far, 14 people have been treated with this therapy, and at least 60% of the tumors have had complete remission and recovery is done through the Unified Health System (SUS). The technique targets three types of tumors: B-lymphoblastic leukemia, B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and multiple myeloma.
Of the 13 patients who received the same treatment as Paulo, 69% had complete remission of their tumors within a month. The first patient who recovered with this technique unfortunately died following a domestic accident unrelated to the disease.
See a comparison of the Pet Scans, tomography with contrast that highlights the tumors, where on the left Paulo had no expectation of cure and would only receive care so as not to feel pain and on the right, where the body has no tumor and the patient is completely cured.
How does CAR-T Cell therapy work?
CAR-T Cell therapy uses modified cells from the patient’s body’s defense system to fight genetically recognize and fight cancer.
For this, cells called T lymphocytes are collected from the patient, genetically modified in the laboratory to reproduce the molecule called chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) and multiplied by the millions before being returned to the body to fight tumors without affecting normal cells.
As the modified cells can cause a very strong reaction in the patient’s body, the treatment can only be carried out in specialized hospitals with authorization from Anvisa.
Paulo reports that he had a fever on the first day the cells were applied:
I felt a little numbness in my hands, but I was monitored before, during and following by the entire multidisciplinary team at HC, in São Paulo.
As a preventive measure, Paulo was transferred to the ICU. Fortunately, the results were positive and his body was able to adapt to fight the tumors with the new antibodies.
In the state of São Paulo, there are two factories capable of producing antibodies for CAR-T therapy, one in Cidade Universitária in the capital and another on the university campus in Ribeirão Preto. Together they have the initial capacity to produce enough for 300 treatments per year.
The Story of Paulo Pelegrino
This story that began in 2010 with the discovery of a tumor, several surgeries, dozens of exams and chemotherapy will be told in the book “A Vida pelo Copo D’água”, written by the patient himself who faced up to three months of temporary blindness due to hemorrhage following be contaminated with Covid-19 in 2022.
In the book, Paulo says that his medicine was “faith and science to live the half full of life” and says where he drew strength all this time:
We only have two ways of thanking life: being resilient, which drove me to get here, and doing good for people.
Paulo was discharged from the Hospital das Clínicas in São Paulo last Sunday (28) with a great celebration by the professionals, including the doctor Vanderson Rocha, who accompanied all of his treatment.
It was a very quick response and with so much tumor. I even get excited. I was very surprised to see the answer, because we have to wait at least a month following the cell infusion. When we saw it, everyone cheered. I put it in the group of tenured professors at USP and everyone was impressed to see the response he got.
In gratitude, the patient said:
The victory is not mine alone. It’s from faith, science and people’s positive energy. Each of them helped to put a parallelepiped on this path. The image very clearly proves to anyone the seriousness of my lymphoma, and I had no idea that it was so.
Tech
13 Set
Tech
07 Jul
Tests with more than 75 patients are necessary for this technology to be approved by Anvisa through registration as a product. According to Dimas Covas, the total cost will be R$ 60 million, but the expectation is that R$ 170 million will be saved in comparison with the prices of private companies.
Anvisa states that it gave priority to the analyzes of the study, saying:
Anvisa received a clinical trial proposal conducted by CEPID-FAPESP-USP and this request is under analysis by Anvisa. The request is part of a pilot project in which Anvisa selected the Cell Therapy Center (CEPID-FAPESP-USP) in Ribeirão Preto for collaboration in the development of advanced therapy products in Brazil. Thus, the Agency has been in dialogue with the CEPID-FAPESP-USP development team to improve the study design. CEPID-FAPESP-USP has also established a schedule with Anvisa to send information regarding the possible manufacture of the product and the applicable controls in the coming months. Anvisa, in turn, has given priority to these analyses, providing quick feedback to the developer, with the aim of prioritizing the execution of this study in Brazil.
Covas says that the project has already been presented to the Ministry of Health and the expectation is that the funding will help in the creation of this new biotechnology industry in Brazil. The study should start in August 2023.
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