As part of its mission to democratize access to information about science, the Cura Project Institute follows the tradition of promoting informative lives on Instagram, always with renowned guests from the fields of medicine and research. On Thursday (27), the debate was about the status of clinical research in the midst of a health crisis. The guests were the oncologists and researchers Dr. Heloisa Resende and Dr. Fábio Franke. The mediation was carried out by Fernanda Schwyter, president of the Cura Project Institute.

On live, it was discussed how the pandemic made it difficult to continue the treatment of oncological patients because of the risk of the disease. In addition, Dr. Resende and Dr. Franke state that the fear of going to hospitals, in addition to the lack of vacancies in the Unified Health System (SUS), has led to underreporting of new cases of cancer. “Faced with the pandemic, people are not having the opportunity to receive a diagnosis. This situation gives a poor prognosis for the coming years, because early treatment is essential against cancer. Thus, there will be an increase in the number of patients needing emergency treatment for the disease and the SUS will find it difficult to witness this accumulation of people that will come”, lamented Dr. Heloisa Resende.

The solution to “relieve” the SUS would be to invest and reduce bureaucratization of access to clinical research who study treatments and cures for the most diverse cancers. However, just as the arrival of COVID-19 accelerated scientific collaboration processes and popularized the importance of research for the lay population, a certain mistrust has emerged about clinical tests and research. According to Dr. Fábio Franke and Dr. Heloisa Resende, there was a loss of reference. “The research fell on the lips of the people, which was positive, but what research should the population believe in? There's so much denial and Fake News. The challenge is: how to filter information as a layman?” , asked Dr. Heloisa Resende. For Dr. Franke, “education must be brought closer to health, so that information can be shared about vaccines, good health habits, and self-care.”

At the end of the live, there was talk of the need to publicize the rights and duties of the research patient, in order to demystify the belief that such participants are guinea pigs. Dr. Fábio Franke also defended the urgent need to regulate and reduce bureaucratization of clinical studies in Brazil, because the context of the pandemic showed us how much more agile processes are fundamental for us to save lives and have access to modern treatments. The oncologist is one of the supporters of Bill 7082/2017, authored by Senator Ana Amélia, which seeks to regulate and expedite the conduct of clinical research with human beings by public or private institutions in Brazil, thus creating principles, guidelines, and rules for conducting such studies.

Not only in the context of the health crisis, but also in the treatment of cancer, the regulation of clinical studies has the power to open Brazil up to the latest in international medicine. Dr. Franke reports that “there is a great need for new treatments on the part of cancer patients that is not being met because few studies from other countries are able to effectively reach Brazil. This is because of the bureaucracy and the lack of predictability. [...] I have already worked on the regulatory side and we spent a year organizing only the documentation. In the end, the studies did not open in Brazil or were canceled because recruitment in the rest of the world was simply closed”.

In the live interview, the doctor also explained that the research is extremely organized, so foreign studies are afraid of investing in a country where slow processes make it difficult to know the answers of ethical and health advice; how many patients can participate in the study and when the work can actually begin. Then, the studies, which are mostly global, choose the countries with the most available scenarios.

Dr. Fábio Franke and Dr. Heloisa Resende closed the live with the message that doctors and researchers must have the right to provide new studies and treatments for patients and there is a great demand for such alternatives and interested in applying as research volunteers.

To watch this and other lives follow our Instagram @projetocura.

Text by Letícia Barbosa