Tomáš Cihlář (born 1967) is a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

biochemist known for his role in the development of

remdesivir Remdesivir, sold under the brand name Veklury, Text was copied from this source which is copyright European Medicines Agency. Reproduction is authorized provided the source is acknowledged. is a Broad-spectrum antiviral drug, broad-spectrum ...

. A specialist in virology, Cihlář holds the positions of senior director, biology, and vice-president at American pharmaceutical company

Gilead Sciences Gilead Sciences, Inc. () is an American biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Foster City, California, that focuses on researching and developing antiviral drugs used in the treatment of HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, influenza, and CO ...

. As a student, Cihlář assisted fellow biochemist

Antonín Holý Antonín Holý (1 September 1936 – 16 July 2012) was a pioneering Czech scientist. He specialised in the field of chemistry and cooperated on the development of important antiretroviral drugs used in the treatment of HIV and hepatitis B. He ...

in developing Viread, the primary drug used to fight HIV infection.

Education

Cihlář graduated from the

University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague The University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague (UCT Prague; , VŠCHT Praha) is the largest university specializing in chemistry in the Czech Republic. Though founded in 1952, UCT Prague has origins dating back to the early nineteenth centur ...

, majoring in fermentation chemistry and bioengineering under the tutelage of Jan Páca and Vladimír Jirků. He completed his postgraduate studies at the

Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences (shortened as IOCB Prague) () is a research institute under the Czech Academy of Sciences (CAS). The institute centers around research in the fields of organic chemi ...

of the ASCR under Ivan Rosenberg and Ivan Votruba. In 1994 he obtained the title of Candidate of Sciences and was engaged in the research of antiviral agents under the tutelage of

. That same year, he traveled to the United States for a postdoctoral fellowship with Gilead Sciences, where as researcher he worked on the development of antiviral nucleotide analogs including

tenofovir disoproxil fumarate Tenofovir disoproxil, sold under the brand name Viread among others, is a medication used to treat chronic hepatitis B and to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS. It is generally recommended for use with other antiretrovirals. It may be used for pre ...

, which, marketed as Viread, has become a primary drug in the fight against HIV infection.Anon.
Dr. Tomas Cihlar
HSTalks.

Career

At Gilead, leading a team of hundreds of scientists working on new substances for the treatment of

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the im ...

, viral

hepatitis B Hepatitis B is an infectious disease caused by the '' hepatitis B virus'' (HBV) that affects the liver; it is a type of viral hepatitis. It can cause both acute and chronic infection. Many people have no symptoms during an initial infection. ...

, respiratory infections and other viral diseases such as

Ebola Ebola, also known as Ebola virus disease (EVD) and Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF), is a viral hemorrhagic fever in humans and other primates, caused by ebolaviruses. Symptoms typically start anywhere between two days and three weeks after in ...

MERS Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) is a viral respiratory infection caused by '' Middle East respiratory syndrome–related coronavirus'' (MERS-CoV). Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe depending on age and risk level. Typi ...

, and

dengue fever Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne disease caused by dengue virus, prevalent in tropical and subtropical areas. Asymptomatic infections are uncommon, mild cases happen frequently; if symptoms appear, they typically begin 3 to 14 days after i ...

, Cihlář is as of 2020 responsible for biological research on HIV and respiratory viruses. On a number of these projects, he continues to work closely with scientists from the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, particularly Zdeněk Havlas and Zdeněk Hostomský, and with the Radim Nencka Group, which develops compounds capable of stopping the replication of important human pathogens by blocking the remodeling of cell membranes induced by these viruses.Publikace Nencka group
Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the CAS. Cihlář is engaged in ongoing research into HIV inhibitors that target the enzyme

integrase Retroviral integrase (IN) is an enzyme An enzyme () is a protein that acts as a biological catalyst by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrate (chemistry), substrates, and the enzyme ...

and prevent the formation of viral capsids. Recently, these entail low molecular weight

agonist An agonist is a chemical that activates a Receptor (biochemistry), receptor to produce a biological response. Receptors are Cell (biology), cellular proteins whose activation causes the cell to modify what it is currently doing. In contrast, an R ...

s of

TLR7 Toll-like receptor 7, also known as TLR7, is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''TLR7'' gene. Orthologs are found in mammals and birds. It is a member of the toll-like receptor (TLR) family and detects single stranded RNA. Function T ...

(toll-like receptor 7). TLR7 receptors recognize single-stranded RNA in

endosome Endosomes are a collection of intracellular sorting organelles in eukaryotic cells. They are parts of the endocytic membrane transport pathway originating from the trans Golgi network. Molecules or ligands internalized from the plasma membra ...

s and play a role in innate antiviral immunity. Such substances should help eliminate the HIV reservoir in T-lymphocytes and completely cure HIV patients. In 2006, Cihlář received a William Prusoff Young Investigator Lecture Award from the International Society for Antiviral Research for his work on antiviral nucleotide analogs. He has patented dozens of novel inventions.

Remdesivir

Also at Gilead, Cihlář is one of the company's lead researchers in the development of

, originally intended for treatment of Ebola. However, the Ebola epidemic ended before the new drug could be tested. Remdesivir briefly showed considerable promise in treating COVID-19 infection; in April 2020 the company provided 5,000 doses for experimental use in China and four hundred patients in 50 other countries. Remdesivir was used to treat the first confirmed case of coronavirus in the U.S. In early June 2020 it was reported that

AstraZeneca AstraZeneca plc () (AZ) is a British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with its headquarters at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in Cambridge, UK. It has a portfolio of products for major diseases in areas includi ...

, a British-Swedish multinational

pharmaceutical Medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal product, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy ( pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the ...

and

biopharmaceutical A biopharmaceutical, also known as a biological medical product, or biologic, is any pharmaceutical drug product manufactured in, extracted from, or semisynthesized from biological sources. Different from totally synthesized pharmaceuticals, t ...

company headquartered in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, England, was pursuing a merger with Gilead due to a shared interest in the potential of remdesivir. However, in September 2020, the WHO’s guidelines committee issued a statement that there was no evidence of benefit. In October 2020, recognizing his involvement in the development of remdesivir, Czech president

Miloš Zeman Miloš Zeman (; born 28 September 1944) is a Czech politician who served as the third president of the Czech Republic from 2013 to 2023. He also previously served as the prime minister of the Czech Republic from 1998 to 2002. As leader of the Cze ...

awarded Cihlář the country's Silver Medal of Merit. In April 2021 Cihlář discussed the possibility of marketing remdesivir in pill form.Zahradnická, E.
"Remdesivir chceme dostat do tabletek. Funguje i na mutace, říká český vývojář"
''

Mladá fronta DNES ''Mladá fronta Dnes'' (), also known as ''MF Dnes'' or simply ''Dnes'', is a daily newspaper based in the Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Euro ...

'', April 21, 2021.

References

Notes

Citations

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cihlář, Tomáš Czech biochemists Virologists Living people 20th-century biochemists 21st-century chemists 21st-century Czech biologists University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague alumni Scientists from Plzeň 1967 births Recipients of Medal of Merit (Czech Republic) Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the CAS