On December 13, 2023, the official closure of the National Scientific Programme “Innovative Low-toxic Bioactive Agents for Precision Medicine (BioActiveMed)” was held in the “Prof. Marin Drinov” Hall of BAS. The presentation was attended by Corr. Memb. Evdokiya Pasheva – Vice-President of BAS, members of the leadership of BAS, members of AACM and representatives of higher education institutions. Mrs. Vesela Vassileva, State Expert at the Science Directorate, read a congratulatory address on behalf of Prof. Galin Tsokov – Minister of Education and Science.
The programme is funded by the Ministry of Education and Science and is focused on conducting research to develop new low-toxic biologically active agents and systems containing extracts from natural sources (plant or animal origin) from Bulgaria for the prevention and support of therapy of certain diseases, thereby improving the health and quality of life of the population. Prof. Dr. Olya Stoilova – National Coordinator and the leaders of the work packages presented the results achieved for the five years of implementation of the Programme in all eight work packages, as well as the indicators set for implementation – 6 inventions (4 registered utility models and 2 patents, and 1 utility model and 1 patent filed), over 70 publications in journals with impact factor, of which 30 are open access, over 70 young scientists involved and 7 defended dissertations.
As a result of the implementation of the programme, a metabolomic database and library of novel natural components (from plant and animal sources), agents/systems with promising activity – antibacterial, antitumor, antioxidant, antiviral and with effect against various neurodegenerative diseases – has been established. Raw materials with the status of dietary supplements have been created – a tablet dosage form containing a standardized dry extract of the aerial part of Astragalus glycyphyllos with immunostimulant effect as well as a syrup with an extract of the mucus of the garden snail Helix aspersa intended for problems with the digestive system and for neurodegenerative disorders. Raw materials with the status of cosmetic agents have also been created – a series of hand wash gels made from Gypsophila trichotoma extract and Xantjium strumarium essential oil, as well as 4 model formulations of a cream with antimycotic action containing essential oils of sweet marjoram and a combination of sweet marjoram and sage.
The research was carried out with the participation of leading scientists with proven scientific capacity as well as with the active participation of young scientists and PhD students from the formed Consortium of the following 7 scientific organisations and 5 universities: the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences – Institute of Organic Chemistry with Center of Phytochemistry (IOCCP-BAS), the “Acad. Roumen Tsanev” Institute of Molecular Biology, the Institute of Polymers (IP-BAS), Institute of Information and Communication Technologies (IICT-BAS), Medical University of Sofia – Faculty of Pharmacy (FPh-MU-Sofia), Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” – Faculty of Biology (FB-SU), Medical University – Plovdiv (MU-Plovdiv), “Paisii Hilendarski” University of Plovdiv (UP) and the “Vassil Levski” National Sports Academy (NSA). This has been the beginning of an effective and successful inter-institutional partnership and interaction between researchers with knowledge and experience in different scientific fields and from different public research institutes and universities.
