Expiration of Antonin Holy Patents to Hurt Czech Science Budget

The Czech portal PraguePost.com published an interesting analysis on May 21, exploring the ramifications to Czech science as of year 2017, when the patents of late Czech chemist Antonin Holy start to expire.

Antonin Holy and his team were involved in the development of antiretroviral drugs intended to treat HIV/AIDS and hepatitis B. The patents that resulted from these discoveries brought the Czech Republic EUR 51 million (USD 69 million) annually, which is 95 percent of the profits of all Czech patents, the portal accentuates.

The Czech scientists’ lack of real contacts with world players, economic barriers, lack of information, and bad presentation by the state are listed as the main reasons why Czech science today does not have anyone to succeed Holy. Vaclav Marek, director of Ceska Hlava (an organization promoting and supporting Czech science home and abroad), noted that only about 10 percent of Czech patents are sold, adding that investors had acquired licenses for only 214 of the latest 2,300 Czech patents.

Moreover, during the past 10 years the Czechs have filed approximately 1,200 applications to the European Patent Office, which is far below the number of applications filed by the Austrians (15,000), Dutch (66,000), and Germans (256,000).

Marek warned that the Czech state does not have a reliable long-term strategy for support of science – an opinion shared by Zdenek Kus, rector of the Technical University in Liberec, north Bohemia.

“The state is unable to set the main priorities for research and provide sufficient support for them. As a result, many various projects are subsidized and there is not enough money for viable, competitive research – for equipment, devices, and especially quality people who often go to work abroad,” Kus assessed.

The portal noted that the results of this analysis would be presented in the upper house of parliament on May 21.

Prepared by: Aleksandra Pavlovic

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Source: Prague Post