IASO Bio Partners with Instituto Butantan to Bring CAR-T Cell Therapy to Brazil's Public Health System
Key Insights
IASO Bio (search) has signed a technology licensing agreement with Instituto Butantan to develop CAR-T cell therapy (search) for hematological cancer (search) in Brazil, targeting patients who have not responded to conventional treatments.
The partnership aims to significantly reduce treatment costs from up to $500,000 per patient by manufacturing through a public institution, potentially enabling future incorporation into Brazil's Unified Health System.
Local development will occur at the Advanced Therapies Center of São Paulo (search), marking a milestone for Brazilian science in making cutting-edge cell therapies accessible through public healthcare.
IASO Biotechnology announced a technology licensing agreement with Instituto Butantan, Brazil's leading public health institution, to develop CAR-T cell therapy (search) for hematological cancer (search) patients who have not responded to conventional treatments. The partnership represents a significant step toward making advanced cell therapies accessible through Brazil's public health system.
Manufacturing and Cost Reduction Strategy
Under the agreement, CAR-T cells will be developed and manufactured at the Advanced Therapies Center of São Paulo (search) (Nutera-SP), a specialized facility coordinated by Butantan equipped for cell therapy production. The technology utilizes patients' own immune cells (search) to treat hematological malignancies (search).
The local development through a public institution is designed to substantially reduce treatment costs, which currently reach up to $500,000 (R$2.6 million) per patient. This cost reduction strategy could facilitate future incorporation of the therapy into Brazil's Unified Health System (SUS), where such treatments are currently unavailable. Currently, CAR-T therapy in Brazil is only accessible through private healthcare systems.
Scientific and Clinical Impact
"This treatment revolutionized the fight against hematological diseases, but access to it remains a challenge," said Esper Kallás, Director of the Butantan Institute. "The new partnership allows the Butantan Institute, as a public institution, to expand its portfolio of advanced therapies to meet the needs of Brazilian public health, expanding access to cutting-edge technologies."
Vanderson Rocha, coordinator of Nutera-SP and Full Professor of Hematology at the University of São Paulo (search)'s School of Medicine, characterized the local CAR-T development by a public institution as "a milestone for Brazilian science." He noted that "in the future, the therapy could expand treatment possibilities for patients who no longer respond to conventional therapies."
Strategic Partnership Framework
"This partnership with Butantan is a pivotal milestone in IASO Bio (search)'s global strategy to bring our innovative cell therapies to patients in Latin America," said Jinhua Zhang, Founder, Chairwoman and CEO of IASO Bio. "By combining our proprietary cell therapy technology with Butantan's exceptional development and manufacturing capabilities as a public institution, we have a unique opportunity to significantly reduce costs and make this life-saving treatment accessible to many more patients in Brazil through the public health system."
Company Backgrounds
IASO Bio (search), founded in 2017, operates as one of the few commercial-stage biopharmaceutical companies in the Advanced Therapy Medicinal Product (ATMP) sector, specializing in bringing China's breakthrough innovations to global markets. The company focuses on developing cell therapies and biologics for hematological malignancies (search) and autoimmune diseases (search), with integrated platforms spanning discovery, development, manufacturing, and commercialization.
Instituto Butantan serves as Latin America's largest producer of vaccines and serums and Brazil's primary manufacturer of immunobiologicals. The institute produces the vast majority of hyperimmune serums used in Brazil for treating envenomation from venomous animals, bacterial toxins, and rabies virus. Additionally, Butantan accounts for significant national vaccine antigen production, including 100% of influenza vaccines used in Brazil's National Influenza Vaccination Campaign.