Introduction This study aimed to evaluate the participants’ comfort in understanding research papers written in English and discussing such research in English via an Asian online journal club. Methods A self-administered online survey was delivered to seven journal club meeting attendees from July 2020 to July 2021. A customer satisfaction analysis was performed to assess the association between the participants’ perspectives on program logistics and satisfaction. Results The recovery rate was 37.0% (44/119). After participating in the journal club, the median scores of critical appraisal skills, knowledge and/or pharmaceutical care skills in clinical practice, and discussion skills in English (assessed using a seven-point Likert scale) improved significantly (compared to pre-participation median scores) from 4 (interquartile range [IQR]: 3–5) to 5 (IQR: 4–6), 5 (IQR: 4–5) to 5 (IQR: 5–6), and 4 (IQR: 2–5) to 5 (IQR: 3–5), respectively ( P < 0.0001). The respondents also expressed great appreciation for the benefits and overall qualities of the journal club. Additionally, regarding patient care behavior after participation in the journal club, 34 (77.3%), 17 (38.6%), 16 (36.4%), and 14 (31.8%) respondents reported improvement in “drug information services,” “patient assessments,” “patient counseling,” and “multidisciplinary rounds,” respectively. Customer satisfaction analysis revealed that sharing information, mutual discussion, a shift system of presenters and co-chairs, and session duration should be improved as a matter of highest priority. Conclusion The findings suggest that our program could be helpful for Asian pharmacists, pharmacy students, and faculty members of the department of pharmacy.

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Background: Cardiotoxicity is a significant adverse event of trastuzumab, which is used in human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive breast cancer patients. Lapatinib (Lap) is a small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor of HER1 and HER2, serving as an anti-HER2 treatment. Lap reportedly causes lesser cardiotoxicity than does trastuzumab. In clinical practice, Lap is often administered to patients with cardiac disorder (CD) induced by trastuzumab. However, there are only a few reports on the safety of Lap administration and subsequent evaluation of CDs in such patients. We evaluated whether there was a difference in cardiac toxicity due to Lap administration based on the presence or absence of previous cardiotoxicity induced by trastuzumab.Methods: Ten patients who received Lap for the treatment of metastatic or recurrent and HER2-positive breast cancer at the National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo, Japan, between April 1, 2016 and August 31, 2020, were included in this study. All patients had a history of trastuzumab administration, and two had developed CD after trastuzumab administration. Lap was carefully administered to these two patients after consultation with a cardiologist. Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and other clinical information before and after Lap treatment were retrieved from electronic medical records. Results: All patients other than the two with CD after trastuzumab treatment had a baseline LVEF of >55%, and there was no clinically relevant decrease in LVEF after the initiation of Lap. The two patients with CD after trastuzumab treatment exhibited LVEF of 38% and 51% after Lap treatment, respectively.Conclusion: Our data indicate that Lap can be administered without causing further deterioration of cardiac function in patients with CD induced by anti-HER2 monoclonal antibodies. The number of cases must be expanded for further investigation.