Professor Antonín Holý from the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the ASCR – the Czech researcher of world importance who discovered preparations that help heal millions of patients worldwide – died on July 16, 2012 at age 75. The preparations developed by Antonín Holý are part of the most efficient and also accessible medicines against AIDS, smallpox virus, shingles, eye inflammation and hepatitis B.
Antonín Holy started to work in the institute in 1960. After three years he switched to the
institute´s new laboratory of nucleic acids chemistry, which he led for twenty years. He directed
the Institute for eight years (1994–2002) A milestone in Holý’s career was his meeting with Erik de
Clercq, the Belgian virologist from the Leuven University, in 1976. They started very effective
cooperation on a new group of potential antiviral drugs. They focused on acyclic nucleoside
phosphonates, several of which they successfully transposed to medicines (Vistide, Hepsera, Viread,
Truvada, Atripla) in cooperation with U.S. pharmaceutic partner Gilead Sciences. A. Holý not only
developed the preparations but also managed to gain partners to make the necessary biological tests
and companies to produce the medicines. The preparations he developed have become a basis of a
modern treatment of a number of serious diseases.
Despite all of the international fame of the excellent chemist, Prof. Holý remained a modest
individual, who throughout his life placed an emphasis particularly on conscientious scientific
work. He felt himself to be mainly a scientific employee, namely even when he was the Director of
the IOCB of the ASCR. ‘Personally, I would not have advanced in my work all the way to where I am
today in another organization than the Academy of Sciences’ he announced several years ago.
Professor Antonín Holý was one of the most successful Czech scientists. His most influential
discoveries have yielded successful treatment for AIDS and type B viral hepatitis. His research
dealt with the chemistry of nucleic acids analogs and he lectured internationally. A. Holý holds
over 60 patents and has co-authored 600 scientific papers. His work has been cited more than 10 000
times. Antonín Holý holds honorary degrees from Univeristy of Manchester, Palacký University in
Olomouc and from Institute of Chemical Technology in Prague. Among other honors, he received the EU
Descartes Award for Scientific research (2001), the Medal of Merit of the Czech Republic (2002) or
State Prize “Czech Head” (2007).
16 Jul 2012
Česky
