Ústav organické chemie a biochemie AV CR / Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the CAS (Prague)
N 50° 06.337 E 014° 23.481
33U E 456475 N 5550551
Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the CAS (IOCB Prague / Ústav organické chemie a biochemie AV CR) in Prague is the leading Czech research center in areas of organic chemistry, biochemistry and medicinal chemistry...
Waymark Code: WMVPX2
Location: Hlavní město Praha, Czechia
Date Posted: 05/16/2017
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Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the CAS (public research institution - v.v.i.), founded in 1951, is the largest research Institute of the key public basic research network in the Czech Republic - Czech Academy of Sciences (CAS).
The whole IOCB Prague campus was generally reconstructed and extended in 2010-2016 from own Institute' sources (revenues from drugs licenses, total reconstruction costs: 3 200 000 000 CZK / 130 000 000 $). A new hi-tech building B, located in the former inner courtyard of the Institute, was constructed for organic synthesis laboratories and undeground computer centre. Both the historic building A and building C were generally rebuilt (only main structural frames remained original) and equipped by state-of-the-art technology. Currently is IOCB campus with more than 700 employees (scientists, students, PhD students, technicians and office/support staff) one of the most modern and well equipped scientific centres in European Union and the biggest basic research institute in Czech lands.
The mission of the IOCB Prague is independent basic research (with the purpose to collect new knowledge) in organic chemistry and biochemistry, and molecular oriented disciplines related to organic chemistry and biochemistry, with strong aspects of application of the results in praxis. The research is oriented mainly to the following fields: nucleic acid components, proteins, peptides, natural products, synthetic functional molecules and molecular modeling. The aim of the Institute is to reach excellence in the international competition and to keep this position in the long term. (from IOCB web pages)
The most successful (from public point of view...) branch of the Institute's research program is a development of new antiviral and antineoplastic drugs based on nucleobases, nucleosides and oligonucleotides and their analogs. The head of the research is former director of the Institute, Prof. Antonín Holý. 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 USA in 2001 for the treatment of AIDS, 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 USA.
All above mentioned drugs are produced in USA by Gilead Sciences, Inc. In the frame of the IOCB is working joint Gilead Sciences, Inc. & IOCB Research Centre