European patent granted

The systematic research of the members of the RCPTM research division Biologically-active complexes and molecular magnets, under the supervision of Prof. Trávníček, focused on the copper(II) complexes [Cu(qui)(L2)]X involving 1-azaflavon-3-ol (Hqui) and 1,10-phenanthroline (L2) derivatives and their anticancer activities, climaxed in the granting of European patent entitled “Utilization of copper complexes involving 2-phenyl-3-hydroxy-4(1H)-quinolinone and 1,10-phenanthroline derivatives for the preparation of drugs for the treatment of tumour diseases” (EP2650000 B1; inventors: Trávníček, J. Vančo, Z. Dvořák, R. Buchtík; granted on 2017/03/29). The patent claims the application of the complexes in the treatment of various types of human cancers (e.g., malignant melanoma or lung, prostate, cervical or ovarian carcinoma), because the activity of the novel complexes was found to be up to ca. 50-times higher as compared with clinically used cisplatin.