Prof. Zdenko Časar, PhD from Lek receives the Puh Award for outstanding achievements

Since 2018, the Puh Award has been awarded by the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation for outstanding achievements by an individual or group of individuals who have won recognition for their achievements and are of exceptional importance for the economic or social development of a particular field, region or country.

In the award's explanatory statement, the committee wrote that Prof. Zdenko Časar's new discoveries in the field of degradation mechanisms and polymorphism of active substances contribute to the understanding of their chemical and physical stability, as well as to a better prediction of their shelf-life. In recent years, he has been improving the analytics of medicines by introducing the principles of the development of embedded quality analytics. His paper, published in Chemical Science, a leading journal in the field of chemistry, is notable for presenting the simplest and shortest synthesis of active substances for cancer therapy. The publication, which was featured by the journal's editorial board, was also included last year among the Excellence in Science 2022 achievements in the field of pharmaceutics by the Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency. Prof. Časar has also made a significant contribution to the development of drugs for the treatment of diabetes and anemia, which have recently been launched on the market, and for which he has received three gold awards from the Slovenian Chamber of Commerce and Industry for best innovation. During  the period under review, Prof. Časar published 25 original and six  peer-reviewed scientific articles, edited one scientific monograph published by  an international publisher and was granted 26 international patents in 13  patent families.

On receiving the award, Prof. Zdenko Časar, PhD who also passes on his industry knowledge and experience to students at the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Ljubljana, commented: "The Puh Award is Slovenia's highest national prize for outstanding scientific achievement, and I am honored to have been selected by the committee as one of the recipients. The award also confirms the outstanding work of the Lek Development Center in recent years and is proof of the company's commitment to providing its associates with the best conditions for development work and fostering a creative atmosphere in which individual abilities can be developed to the fullest."

The award is also a testament to the strategic contribution of Lek researchers to the development operations in Slovenia and the fruitful collaboration between the company and academia. "Through strong partnerships with institutions over many years, we have been able to build an ecosystem within which we successfully collaborate in the development of science, knowledge and applied solutions. The award, which Prof. Časar deservedly received for his cutting-edge research work, confirms that together, business and research institutions can most effectively create economic progress and ensure a sustainable growth in social wellbeing. I am confident that with the new announced investments in Lek's development capabilities, we will continue to push the boundaries of the Slovenian scientific space," added Robert Ljoljo, President of the Lek Management Board and Sandoz Country President Slovenia.