PRAGUE – 25th February 2022: The Centre for Applied Pharmaceutical Research (The Parc), which was founded by Zentiva in cooperation with leading Czech academic institutions, awarded its doctoral students with The Parc Awards for their outstanding academic work in applied drug research and development. In 2021, the Parc students achieved impressive results, including the completion of 17 scientific papers and 33 contributions to scientific conferences in total.

The Parc doctoral students were awarded The Parc Awards in two categories. Vojtěch Klimša won for the second time The Student Choice Award for his project on “High-throughput screening of spray-dried formulations”. The second Student award went to Dita Spálovská for “Vibrational and chiroptical spectroscopy as an advanced tool for structure studies and identification of pharmaceutical and psychoactive substances”, and the third Student prize was awarded to Nikita Marinko for his work on “Combined in-silico and experimental approach for effective scaling-up processes in the pharmaceutical industry”. The Expert Choice Award went to Erik Sonntag for his work “Robotic compounding line for continuous manufacturing of personalised formulations”.

„Every year I am impressed by the quality and ingenuity of students who work in The Parc – not just the winners but all our students. I am grateful to the industrial supervisors from Zentiva for giving the students a practical insight into pharmaceutical research, and to the academic supervisors for their expert guidance and continuing support. I wish to extend my congratulations to the winners, and I am looking forward to seeing them create the future of the pharmaceutical industry" said Prof. František Štěpánek, The Parc’s Scientific Director.

In 2021, 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 in the Czech Republic. The international educational platform welcomed 7 new students into the program, extending the number of current participants to a record of 39 doctoral students. Zentiva strongly believes that supporting students by bridging the gap between theoretical science and what happens in real-life in pharma will have a valuable impact on the future careers of young people.

“The Parc awards are a great opportunity to celebrate the past year. The list of publications, conference contributions, and grant submissions shows that we have succeeded in creating an extraordinary pharmaceutical platform. These achievements stem from a perfect symbiosis between industry and academia based on the synergy of smart students, idea-rich academicians, and skilled industry experts. The Parc graduates are well prepared for their career, most of them have already found great job positions in almost all domestic pharmaceutical companies and also abroad,” said Ondřej Dammer, Operational Director of The Parc.

Since its foundation, there have been more than 60 students, 43 professors, and academic and industrial leaders involved in The Parc. The PhDs who already graduated continue successfully in their careers either in the pharmaceutical industry or academic institutions. One-third of them started working at Zentiva, significantly helping the company on its growth journey.

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 4,700 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. Visit us at www.zentiva.com.

Media Contact

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