A study with CAR-T Cell cell therapy for the treatment of lymphoma and leukemia managed to obtain an 87.5% response in patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma who had already undergone other unsuccessful treatments, such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy and transplantation.  The research was developed at the Ribeirão Preto Blood Center, in partnership with the Butantan Institute and the Ministry of Health.  Related news: Fiocruz will have national production of cell therapies against cancer. One in four Brazilians does not know that cancer can be prevented. The results are preliminary and were presented this Wednesday (10) by the Ministry of Health, which invested R$100 million in the research. "The results are very encouraging and bring hope to patients who need this treatment. The Innovation Committee, formed by the directors of Anvisa [Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária] reinforced that it will treat this product as one of the innovative products and, with this, accelerate the evaluation and monitoring that are already carried out permanently by the Anvisa technical team", said the Minister of Health, Alexandre Padilha. The minister explained that, as the study is still ongoing, new patients will continue to be recruited, following international standards. “It is necessary to follow the patient for at least one year from the date of application of the therapy to analyze the safety and efficacy markers,” said Padilha. As the last patient was included in May, it will take around a year and a half to complete the analyzes and possible approval of the registry. Currently, similar treatment in the private network costs R$2.5 million. The government's expectation is that, when incorporated into the SUS, the treatment will be offered completely free of charge.  The acquisition cost by the Ministry of Health must also be reduced due to the scale of production and the fact that it involves public and non-profit institutions. The factory in Ribeirão Preto, considered 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 young people CAR-T Cell clinical research also includes children and adolescents. In the case of acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the most common childhood cancer, responsible for 70% to 80% of childhood cases, the patients recruited 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. For lymphomas, whose prevalence is significantly lower in children, recruitment is aimed at people over 18 years of age. Genomes Program Padilha also said that the federal government made a contribution of R$180 million for the second phase of the Genomas Brasil program. The project, which has existed since 2020 and has the USP of Ribeirão Preto as one of its bases, will now include new universities, such as the University of Brasília (UnB), which will have the first laboratory of its kind in the Central-West region, and more SUS hospitals. "The Genomas project is a source of pride for the country. Brazil is one of the countries with the greatest genomic diversity, according to data from the project. This makes Brazil a country with great potential for the development of medicines", highlighted the minister. He also highlighted that the new clinical research law, sanctioned by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, reduced bureaucracy and shortened the deadlines for approving studies in the country, which increased Brazil's participation in the international clinical research scenario by 30%, in the year 2025. “Exome mapping, made possible by project partner laboratories, is now guaranteed by the Ministry of Health for all SUS specialty centers. This technology allows the diagnosis of rare diseases in children, which previously took around seven years, to be carried out in the first six months of life, anticipating treatments and improving patients' quality of life,” said Padilha.