On November 29, in Eusébio, a city in the metropolitan region of Fortaleza, an important survey led by Fiocruz Ceará, with support from Fiotec, in partnership with Banco do Nordeste, was presented. The agreement signed by the three parties aims to develop a drug with national content, derived from human L-asparaginase, an essential enzyme in the treatment of Acute Lymphoid Leukemia.

The study is coordinated by biophysicist Marcos Lourenzoni, specialist in Science, Technology, Production and Innovation in Public Health of Fiocruz Ceará, and intends to solve the bottleneck of L-asparaginase shortage in Brazil, faced today by the Ministry of Health. The agreement works in the production of an innovative drug and, mainly, of wide social reach.

The research will allow to innovate in the proposition of enzyme variants with evolved phenotypes, thus producing a better quality drug. Furthermore, using human enzymes, it will make it possible to eliminate adverse effects observed in commercial products currently on the international market.