In the Polish spa town of Duszniki-Zdrój, the first off-site conference of the OncoPharm project took place on 21–22 October 2025, focusing on pre-application research of drugs for oncological diseases and on the prevention and treatment of serious complications caused by them. The meeting was attended by nearly 35 project researchers from academic, clinical and application spheres, as well as representatives of Merck Life Science.
The OncoPharm project (ID No. CZ.02.01.01/00/23_021/0008442), implemented by the Faculty of Pharmacy (FoP), Charles University in cooperation with the Faculty of Medicine in Hradec Králové (FoM), Charles University, the University Hospital Hradec Králové and Generi Biotech s.r.o., is currently approaching the midpoint of its implementation. It is already delivering concrete results and confirms the importance of intersectoral collaboration across academic, clinical and application environments. Its objective is to streamline anticancer therapy, prevent cardiotoxicity and overcome drug resistance by connecting basic, clinical and applied research.
Two-day scientific programme
The conference was opened by Prof. Vladimír Wsól, the project’s guarantor and Head of the Department of Biochemical Sciences at FoP CU, who summarised the project’s progress to date and underlined the importance of coordinated cooperation between research institutions and the application sphere. This was followed by a series of sessions dedicated to the project’s individual work packages (WP1–WP3).
The first session focused on Work Package 2 – Research and development of new anticancer drugs, presenting the results achieved so far and progress in implementation. Dr. Górecki (University Hospital Hradec Králové) outlined the development and testing of new FLT3 tyrosin kinase inhibitors intended for the treatment of acute myeloid leukaemia and their profiling in preclinical models. His presentation was followed by Dr. Koutová (FoM CU) with an interactive lecture “The Story of Vincarubine: A Rediscovered Treasure among Alkaloids”, in which participants were actively engaged. The lecture offered an interesting perspective on using natural compounds as inspiration for the development of new anticancer drugs.
The next thematic block, introduced by the head of WP1, Prof. Wsól, was devoted to Work Package 1 – Drug resistance in oncological diseases. It focuses on drug resistance and its impact on the success of anticancer treatment. Presentations by Assoc. Prof. Hofman, Assoc. Prof. Čečková and Dr. Novotná (FoP CU) featured results aimed at identifying mechanisms of drug resistance and developing a diagnostic tool to predict treatment efficacy. Mgr. Flídr from Generi Biotech presented the application partner’s work on the development of a prototype functional sample for identifying AML patients at high risk of therapy failure. This approach will enable laboratory results to be transferred into a form usable in practice.
On the second day, the conference continued with Work Package 3 – Cardiotoxicity of anticancer drugs. Prof. Šimůnek (FoP CU), Assoc. Prof. Štěrba (FoM CU) and Assoc. Prof. Roh (FoP CU) presented new insights into the mechanisms of cardiotoxicity of anthracycline drugs and ways to reduce it using cardioprotective agents. The results indicate that connecting pharmacology, chemistry and biomedicine brings concrete findings that can help increase the safety of anticancer therapy.
The scientific programme also included a lecture by Dr. Demuth (FoP CU) on the principles of Open Science, research data management and publishing in Open Access mode, and an engaging presentation by Mgr. Kukla from Merck Life Science titled “Innovative Tools for the Lab of the Future: Exploring Automation and Digitalization with Merck.”
The final part of the conference was devoted to summarising the project’s implementation to date and the ongoing fulfilment of its goals and indicators. Prof. Wsól and the project team presented the current status of implementation from both substantive and financial perspectives. The data presented showed that the project is developing steadily and that most planned activities are being fulfilled. The conference also provided space for meetings of the project and administrative teams, networking among representatives of all research objectives, and discussion of the project’s future direction.
The importance of intersectoral collaboration
The OncoPharm project connects academic research with clinical practice and application partners in order to support the transfer of scientific knowledge into real-world use. Thanks to cooperation between the Faculty of Pharmacy and the Faculty of Medicine of Charles University, the University Hospital Hradec Králové and Generi Biotech, a research platform of high professional standard has been created, bringing new opportunities in the development of anticancer and cardioprotective drugs as well as diagnostic tools.
A key added value of the project is the mutual interconnectedness of all three research objectives, whose cross-disciplinary cooperation strengthens both the quality and practical applicability of the results achieved.
We wish the entire team much success and creative energy for the next stage of the project and look forward to further joint meetings within the OncoPharm project.
Prof. Ing. Vladimír Wsól, Ph.D., Ing. Mgr. Anna Opitz
Text and photo: Ing. Mgr. Anna Opitz, prof. Ing. Vladimír Wsól, Ph.D.
More information about the project: www.faf.cuni.cz/OncoPharm
Project “Pre-application Research of Drugs for Oncological Diseases and for the Prevention and Treatment of Serious Complications Caused by Them” (OncoPharm), Reg. No. CZ.02.01.01/00/23_021/0008442, co-funded by the European Union.
