Brazil's Ministry of Health has set aside R$ 3.9 billion in the 2027 federal budget to overhaul the purchase of cancer medicines in the SUS, the country's public health system. According to a report by Folha de S.Paulo published on Monday (21), picked up by news site Brasil 247, the goal is to deliver at least 23 new drugs for breast and lung cancer, multiple myeloma and other tumors, offering a newer generation of medicines that target more specific stages and variations of the disease. The ministry estimates more than 110,000 patients could benefit.
The problem the government wants to fix is an old one: high-cost treatments approved for the public network often never reach patients, because federal transfers fall short of what states and hospitals need to close contracts with manufacturers. The response is a policy named AF-Onco (the Pharmaceutical Care Component in Oncology), whose regulation began at the end of 2025. Under it, the ministry is to buy the most expensive medicines directly instead of only reimbursing state health departments, and the federal government is to negotiate national prices with the industry for products that states keep buying and the federal government refunds.
What the list includes
Among the promised drugs are extremely expensive ones such as betadinutuximabe, used for neuroblastoma, a rare and aggressive tumor that mainly affects children. It was approved for the SUS in November 2025 at an estimated cost of up to R$ 635,000 per treatment, but supply has not been regularized: today patients get it only through court orders. The package also covers medicines whose protocols were approved years ago and never delivered, such as gefitinib, which since 2013 was supposed to serve lung cancer patients.
What is confirmed so far
On the confirmed side: the R$ 3.9 billion is reserved in the 2027 budget, which still needs congressional approval, and the AF-Onco regulation started last year. On the promise side: there is no firm date for the deliveries. Folha recorded estimates swinging between October, the end of the year and early 2027, and the 110,000-patient figure remains a ministry projection.
"People have cancer today, there is a need for speed," said Helena Esteves, advocacy manager at Oncoguia, a Brazilian patient support organization. She called the program "the materialization of what we had been shouting about for ten years," while saying the sector is anxious about the slow pace of delivery.
For patients and families, the practical route remains the referral oncology service. Drugs incorporated into the SUS are listed publicly by the ministry, and denial of an approved treatment can be challenged with the SUS ombudsman (phone 136) and, as a last resort, in court, the route that today secures access to approved but undelivered drugs such as betadinutuximabe.