AIDS and the HIV money machine

PRAGUE: Antonin Holy Has Died

PRAGUE — Antonin Holy, a renowned Czech scientist whose research significantly contributed to the development of antiviral drugs, has died, his long-time research institute said Tuesday.

Prague’s Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Academy of Sciences where Mr. Holy has been working since 1960 says he died Monday after battling an unspecified long-term disease. He was 75.

He died the same day the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a drug Mr. Holy helped to create Truvada, which is made by the U.S. pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences, is the first drug shown to reduce the risk of HIV infection. It is intended to be taken as a preventive measure for healthy people who are at high risk of acquiring HIV through sexual activity, such as those who have HIV-infected partners.

Mr. Holy, a research professor of nucleic acid chemistry, helped discover substances that are part of today’s drugs, such as Viread and Vistide, which are used for treatment of HIV-infected patients, and Hepsera, which is used to treat hepatitis B.

Mr. Holy had more than 60 patents to his name and was an author of about 600 scientific papers. Since 1976, he worked closely with professor Erik De Clercq from the Leuven University, Belgium.

Holy was born Sept 1, 1936, in Prague.He retired a year ago.

“Science is a real hard work,” he said. AP