Objective: Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection is one of the leading causes of gastrointestinal diseases such as dyspepsia, peptic ulcers. Thailand has a 45.9% prevalence of the infection and an increasing rate of resistance to clarithromycin, leading to standard treatments being less successful. Vonoprazan represents a novel drug offering a new treatment regimen. Although vonoprazan has been available in Thailand since 2019, its cost-effectiveness has not been studied previously.Materials and Methods: This study analysed the cost-effectiveness of vonoprazan-based triple therapy compared with PPI-based therapy, in treating clarithromycin resistant H. pylori, by using the markov model from a societal perspective.Results: The total cost of vonoprazan-based triple therapy, levofloxacin-PPI based triple therapy and concomitant-PPI therapy were 784,932.08 baht, 783,863.65 baht and 783,874.55 baht respectively. The quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) of vonoprazan-based triple therapy, levofloxacin-PPI based triple therapy and concomitant-PPI therapy were 25.1118 years, 25.1147 years and 25.1054 years respectively. The cost-effectiveness ratio (CER) of vonoprazanbased triple therapy, levofloxacin-PPI based triple therapy and concomitant-PPI therapy were 31,257.50 baht/ QALYs, 31,211.35 baht/QALYs and 31,223.34 baht per QALYs respectively.Conclusion: Therefore, levofloxacin-PPI based triple therapy was found to be the most cost-effective regimen and the dominant strategy compared with concomitant-PPI or vonoprazan-based triple therapy. It provided higher QALYs and lower treatment costs. Levofloxacin-PPI based triple therapy should be the first choice of an alternative strategy in treating clarithromycin-resistant H. pylori. The results of this study can be used by policymakers to help inform their decisions.

Objective: This study aimed to assess clinical, humanistic and economic outcomes of telepharmacy in asthma patients.  Material and Methods: A quasi-experimental research design, with one-group pretest-posttest, was conducted to study telepharmacy. This real-time pharmaceutical care using communication technology was conducted in 29 asthma patients, over 12 weeks. Clinical outcomes were evaluated; including, asthma control, drug-related problems, adherence to use of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS), ICS-side effects, emergency room visits and hospitalizations due to acute exacerbation. Patient satisfaction was used to assess humanistic outcomes, and cost-saving was used to assess economic outcomes.  Results: Clinical outcomes showed statistically significant improvement in the number of well-controlled patients; increasing from 34.48% to 89.66% (p-value<0.01). ICS adherence improved from the mean percentage of number of times patients forgot to use ICS; which decreased from 5.86±18.67 to 0.21±0.74 (p-value<0.01). The mean number of drug-related problems decreased from 1.45±0.91 to 0.21±0.41 (p-value<0.01), and the mean number of ICS-side effects decreased from 0.66±0.72 to 0.14±0.44 (p-value<0.01). A total of 51.72 % of patients also required additional advice on inhaler techniques by a pharmacist. The mean number of emergency room visits and hospitalizations, due to acute exacerbation, decreased to zero by the end of the study. Humanistic outcomes revealed that patient satisfaction was at the ‘very satisfactory’ level (4.82±0.27 out of 5.00), and economic outcomes found that patients could save 49.99±34.90% compared to usual care.  Conclusion: This study shows that patients receiving telepharmacy have better outcomes in ICS adherence and asthma control, can prevent future risks (acute exacerbation, ICS-side effects), save costs and were very satisfied with telepharmacy overall.

Superficial fungal infections (SFIs) are among the most common skin diseases worldwide and are common in many parts of Asia. Community pharmacists are well-placed to help identify and manage SFIs. However, effective management may be hindered by a suboptimal consultation process, attributed to the misalignment between consumers’ and pharmacists’ viewpoints. The Fungal CARE (Care, Assess, Recommend, Empower) guide, a patient-centered collaborative framework, was developed to improve pharmacist-led SFI consultations in community pharmacy. A survey on real-world consumer experiences with SFIs provided insights for aligning the Fungal CARE guide with consumer perspectives. To further optimize the guide, community pharmacists were surveyed on their current practice and challenges of managing SFIs, as well as views on the usefulness of the Fungal CARE guide. The pharmacists’ survey indicated that respondents engaged with some but not all of consumers’ top concerns with SFIs, such as emotional and social aspects. Pharmacists identified their greatest challenges as poor compliance with SFI treatment and limited confidence in identifying and/or managing SFIs. Encouragingly, when presented with the Fungal CARE guide, nearly all pharmacists agreed it would be helpful and would use it in practice. Implementing the Fungal CARE guide may help improve pharmacist-led consultations for SFIs and encourage better treatment outcomes.

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Nowadays, innovation plays a critical role in business operation. Design thinking is a useful tool to create innovations, including health innovation. It can be applied to various fields of pharmacy to satisfy the needs of its patients. This article presents the idea of design thinking and its process which consists of five stages: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test. The first two steps, empathizing and defining, are the most important steps that help identify what users really need. Next, ideas are generated, gathered together, and used to develop a prototype. Then, the prototype is tested, improved, and eventually the innovation is developed successfully. In summary, design thinking can be used in pharmacy to create health innovation with the purpose of the users’ fulfillment and long-term benefits to pertinent organizations.