Education
Born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, Antonín Holý studied organic chemistry from 1954 to 1959 at the Faculty of Science of Charles University in Prague.
Born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, Antonín Holý studied organic chemistry from 1954 to 1959 at the Faculty of Science of Charles University in Prague.
He specialised in the field of chemistry and cooperated on the development of important antiretroviral drugs used in the treatment of Human Immunodeficiency Virus and hepatitis B. He was involved in the creation of the most effective drug (as of early 2009) in the treatment of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. Antonín Holý is the author of more than 400 scientific discoveries and holds 60 patents. With more than 400 discoveries to his cr, his work has affected millions of people with viral diseases such as Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome and hepatitis B and many other viral diseases. In 2008 he received an Honorary Professorship at the University of Manchester"s School of Chemistry.
From 1960 he trained at the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry (IOCB) of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences in Prague and has been a researcher there since 1963.
He became the Institute"s lead scientist in 1967, and from 1983 headed its working group for nucleic acids. In 1987 he became chief of the Department of Nucleic Acid Chemistry and from 1994 to 2002 he was head of the IOCB. Since 1976 he has collaborated on the development of new antiretroviral drugs with Erik De Clercq of the Rega Institute for Medical Research at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium.
In 2006 the United States biopharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences and the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry (IOCB) of the Academy of Sciences of the Czechoslovakian Republic jointly established a new research center, oriented to the development of new preparations. Gilead promised the IOCB a $1.1 million donation, to fund its operations and research for 5 years.
Several antiretroviral drugs based on Holý"s discoveries have been licensed.
In 1996, Vistide was approved for production in the United States and European Union. Viread (tenofovir) was approved in the United States of America in 2001 for the treatment of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, and Hepsera was approved in 2003 for the treatment of hepatitis B. Truvada, a combination of Viread and emtricitabine, was approved in 2006 for use in the United States of America. Holý had retired a year before his death and died of an unspecified cause, aged 75, on 16 July 2012. A statement from the IOCB called his death "an immense loss".
His death occurred two months after the United States. Food and Drug Administration (Food and Drug Administration) approved Truvada for treating Human Immunodeficiency Virus, the same day that Food and Drug Administration approved Truvada for Human Immunodeficiency Virus prevention.
1984 State Prize for Chemistry (Acyklická analoga nukleosidů a nukleotidů).
1984 State Prize for Chemistry (Acyklická analoga nukleosidů a nukleotidů) 1998 Hanuš"s Medal of the Czechoslovakian Chemical Society 1999 Honorary doctorate of the Palacký University in Olomouc 2001 Descartes Prize of the European Union. The Medal of Merit of the Czechoslovakian Republic (Za zásluhy) I. degree 2003 Honorary membership in the Rega Institute for Medical Research, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium. 2004 Award Praemium Bohemiae. Medal of the Czechoslovakian Academy of Sciences: De scientia et humanitate optime meritis 2005 Honorary doctorate of the Ghent University (Belgium). The Medal of Merit of the Faculty of Science at the 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 "Czechoslovakian Head" (Česká hlava).
European Academy of Sciences and Arts]
2006 Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts (Salzburg).
