PRAGUE - February 26, 2021 - The Centre for Applied Pharmaceutical Research (The Parc), which was founded by Zentiva in cooperation with leading Czech academic institutions, is celebrating numerous successes again, summarizing its 2020 achievements and recognizing the participants with The Parc Awards for the third time

In 2020 The Parc continued its mission to provide young talented researchers with a world-class education and collaboration with professionals working to accelerate drug innovation and research. The international platform welcomed 11 new students into the program extending the number of participants to record 38 doctoral students. The participants achieved impressive results last year, including the completion of 12 professional publications and receiving a prestigious InPharma grant – an EU-funded MSCA (Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions) European Industrial Doctorate programme. Three students finalized their studies and one founded a technological start-up. The Parc also extended in 2020 the network of collaborating universities in Europe.

“Our achievements rocked science in 2020. I am proud of every student in The Parc and I would like to thank all the supervisors from Zentiva and the academia for the student’s supervision and enthusiasm to solve current challenges in pharmaceutical science together. The Parc´s research clearly addresses the key challenges the pharma industry is facing today and its results are directly applied in the new products development and manufacturing” – said Ondrej Dammer, The Parc’s Operational Director.

For the third time, The Parc doctoral students were awarded The Parc Awards in two categories. Tereza Boleslavská won The Student Choice Award for her project on “Development of biorelevant in vitro dissolution method” while the second Student award went to Jan Jirát for “Crystal design and crystallization process development” and the third Student prize was awarded to Jakub Petřík for his work on “Forced degradation study system development”. The Expert Choice Award went to Jiří Kolář for his work “Mathematical modeling of unit operations in pharmaceutical formulation processes”.

Prof. František Štěpánek, The Parc’s Scientific Director commented: “I would like to congratulate the winners and all the students for their 2020 research studies and results. At The Parc we continue to provide a bridge between excellent basic research in pharmaceutical sciences and its translation to real pharmaceutical products that can be clinically tested, registered, and manufactured. Through collaboration with the best academic institutions across the EU our platform provides its Ph.D. students with the opportunity to gain first-hand experience of both academic and industrial R&D environment, thus broadening their future career prospects. It is great to acknowledge that The Parc alumni launch successful careers not only in the pharmaceutical industry and academic institutions across Europe, but this year also the first technological start-up company was founded by one of our graduates.”

Zentiva strongly believes that supporting students by bridging the gap between theoretical science and what happens in the real-life in pharma will have a valuable impact on the future careers of young people, especially members of the Z generation in the Czech Republic. The high quality of the students’ program and its practical benefits were also recognized by Prime Minister Andrej Babiš during his visit to The Parc last September.

“From the superb quality of research receiving this year´s awards, it is clearly visible that the Parc is already fulfilling its mission to build a strong foundation for further growth of the pharmaceutical industry in the Czech Republic. The unique combination of world-class academic education with practical hands-on industrial and business experience in The Parc clearly shows a functional and successful example of how to speed up the transfer of academic research into practical applications in the industry, boost the research and development activities in the companies and prepare the next generation of scientists and engineers to be ready at their graduation to tackle the industrial challenges of the future. The Parc shows one of the ways we can really deliver on the “country for future” strategy of the Czech Republic” - summarized Pavel Sebek, Zentiva's Development Director and one of the founders of The Parc.

About The Parc

Initiated by Zentiva, The Parc was created in association with three academic partners: the University of Chemistry and Technology Prague; the Faculty of Science of Charles University; and the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences. This highly successful initiative has brought rising talent together with leading pharmaceutical and academic experts, all working to accelerate innovation in drug research & development.

The Parc provides world-class academic education combined with practical hands-on industrial and business experience under the leadership of scientists, engineers, and managers both from academia and the pharmaceutical industry. It enables students to gain graduate-level training in pharmaceutical sciences bridging chemistry, pharmaceutical technology, bio pharmacy, and clinical research. Results of the students’ research are frequently directly implemented in real-world products launched to the market to help patients. Collaborating with academic partners across Europe, The Parc also offers secondments for students and research experience exchanges supervised by top academic scientists.

More information about The Parc can be found on www.theparc.eu.

About Zentiva

Zentiva is a producer of high-quality affordable medicines serving patients in Europe and beyond. With a dedicated team of more than 4,500 people and a network of production sites - including flagship sites in Prague, Bucharest, and Ankleshwar - Zentiva strives to be the champion of branded and generic medicines in Europe to better support people’s daily healthcare needs.
At Zentiva it is our aspiration that healthcare should be a right and not a privilege. More than ever, people need better access to high-quality affordable medicines and healthcare. We work in partnership with physicians, pharmacists, wholesalers, regulators, and governments to provide the everyday solutions that we all depend on.

Media contact:

Mounira Lemoui
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ZENTIVA GROUP, a.s.
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E-mail: mounira.lemoui@zentiva.com