Well-kept specimens

Instituto Butantan begins construction of a new facility to store all of its collections. Building will have a modern fire prevention system

By Elton Alisson

Agência FAPESP – Nearly one year after a large fire that threatened its mere existence, the Butantan Institute’s snake collection will have a new home. São Paulo State Governor Geraldo Alckmin and Secretary of Health Giovanni Guido Cerri announced construction of a new Collections Building for the Butantan this Tuesday, February 23, during the celebration of the research institute’s 110 years. 

Costing an estimated R$ 3 million, the 1,600 square-meter facility should be completed by the end of 2011 and will be home to the snake, arthropod and insect collections, in addition to the institute’s tissue bank.
In order to avoid accidents like the fire that happened in May 2010, the new building will be equipped with a modern fire prevention system. Aside from foam hydrants and portable extinguishers throughout areas with flammable products, the lighting fixtures will be flameproof so as to avoid explosions from sparks.

“The new building is important so that no more collections, which are both scientific and historical, are lost. We cannot have another accident like what happened in 2010,” said Instituto Butantan’s director Jorge Kalil to Agência FAPESP.

According to him, the collection most affected by the conflagration was the snakes. It was the world’s largest snake collection and lost about two thirds of the species catalogued. In an attempt to recover its losses, the Butantan continues to collect new specimens, to promote species trades with national and overseas institutions and is also receiving donations. But donations have diminished significantly in recent years due to restrictions placed by environmental organizations. “We need to talk with representatives from the environmental organs so we can have access to biological material and restock the lost collection,” says Kalil.

During the ceremony, it was also announced that the Butantan vaccine factory, inaugurated in 2007, will begin clinical testing this year for the effectiveness of vaccines against dengue and the rotavirus, which causes diarrhea in children.

By the end of 2012, researchers from the institute plan to finish the final phase of clinical testing in the vaccine against dengue. “Development of the dengue vaccine is complicated because there are four subtypes of the disease, and the vaccine has to protect against all four. If not, it could cause the patient to have a much more serious disease,” says Kalil.

In 2011, the vaccine factory also produced the first batch, with 3 million doses, of the flu vaccine that will be administered around the country in the Health Ministry’s April Vaccination Campaign for the Elderly. In 2012, the Butantan should increase production to 22 million doses, which will make Brazil self-sufficient in flu vaccine production. 

 “The Butantan is Latin America’s largest serum therapy institute and one of the world’s most important. Over a hundred years old yet extremely well renovated, it is at the cutting edge of science and at the service of the Brazilian health system,” said Alckmin. 

The governor also announced at the event that during the next 30 days, investments needed for completing the institute’s hemoderivatives factory will be defined. According to him, the factory is ready and has equipment, but another R$ 60 million is needed to come on stream. One part of this sum could come from the State budget and the rest from the São Paulo State Fomenting Agency.

“This factory is Brazil’s first step in completing the full production cycle for blood factors, which are the hemoderivatives. In 30 days, we want to resolve the financing issue and bring it on stream,” affirms Alckmin.