Lula Signs Law Requiring SUS to Provide Advanced Cancer Treatments

Overview

• Lula signed the measure Friday during the CESIN inauguration at InCor in São Paulo, mandating that Brazil’s public system offer advanced medicines, devices, procedures, vaccines and disease‑monitoring tools for cancer care.
• The law updates the 2023 National Policy on Cancer to prioritize Brazilian technology, directing support to research funding, university partnerships and biotech startups that develop oncology drugs and vaccines.
• An order signed at the event allocated R$41 million to InCor, which the government called the institute’s largest Health Ministry investment to date, to expand patient capacity and strengthen teaching.
• A separate R$9 million agreement funds digital health, including telehealth and the development and upkeep of SUS innovation projects, alongside a technical cooperation pact with Nutes/UEPB to adapt health technologies.
• In a related operational step in March, Health Minister Alexandre Padilha said the SUS will broaden use of pembrolizumab, an immunotherapy now covered publicly only for melanoma, to treat more cancer types.