Antonín Holý

Antonín Holý (1 September 1936 – 16 July 2012) was a very prominent and pioneering Czech scientist. He specialized in the field of medicinal chemistry and cooperated on the development of important antiretroviral drugs used for the treatment of HIV and hepatitis B. He was leading in the creation of the currently most effective drug for the treatment of AIDS. Antonín Holý is the author of more than 650 scientific publications and holds 60 patents. With more than 400 discoveries to his credit, his work affects millions of people with HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B and other viral diseases.


Born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, Antonín Holý studied organic chemistry at the Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague. From 1960 he worked at the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry (IOCB), Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences in Prague and became a research scientist there in 1963. In 1967, he was promoted to a leading scientist, and from 1983 he directed his independent research group aimed at nucleic acid chemistry. Antonín Holý became head of the Department of Nucleic Acid Chemistry in 1987 and from 1994 to 2002 he served as the director of IOCB.


Since 1976 Antonín Holý collaborated with Erik De Clercq of the Rega Institute for Medical Research at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, on the development of new antiretroviral drugs, which culminated later in a cooperation with the US American biopharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences.


Several antiretroviral drugs based on Holý's discoveries were licensed to Gilead Sciences. In 1996, Vistide was approved in the United States and European Union for the treatment of cytomegalovirus retinitis in AIDS-infected patients. Viread (tenofovir) was approved for the treatment of AIDS in the USA in 2001, and Hepsera was approved for the treatment of hepatitis B in 2003. Truvada, a combination of Viread and emtricitabine, was approved in 2004 for use in the USA.


Holý retired from his position at IOCB in 2011 and died, aged 75, on 16 July 2012. His death occurred the same day that FDA approved Truvada for HIV prevention to reduce the risk of HIV infection.


Awards and honors

  • 1984 State Prize for Chemistry
  • 1998 Hanuš Medal of the Czech Chemical Society
  • 1999 Honorary doctorate of Palacký University in Olomouc
  • 2001 Descartes Prize of the European Union;  Medal of Merit of the Czech Republic 1st class
  • 2003 Honorary membership at Rega Institute for Medical Research, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium.
  • 2004 Award Praemium Bohemiae; Medal of the Czech Academy of Sciences: De scientia et humanitate optime meritis
  • 2005 Honorary doctorate of Ghent University (Belgium); Medal of Merit of the Faculty of Science at Charles University in Prague.
  • 2006 Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts (Salzburg)
  • 2006 Honorary doctorate of the Institute of Chemical Technology, Prague
  • 2007 State Prize "Czech Head" (Česká hlava)
  • 2008 Honorary Professorship at the University of Manchester's School of Chemistry