Newsletter

Introduction to MIDAS: Expert Teamin Early HTA

Issue 2September 2023

MORU Members Join EMCRWorkshop
Pint of Science Thailand 2023
In-Person Seminars Are Back in HIAS
NHF and HITAP Co-Host Forumon Open Data Movement to Support
Research Development and Health
Policies in Thailand

Introduction to MIDAS:Expert Teamin Early HTA

On June 19, 2023, the HealthIntervention and Technology Assessment
Program Foundation (HITAP Foundation),in collaboration with the Saw Swee HockSchool of Public Health of the National
University of Singapore (NUS), organizeda workshop on “Fruitful Research: Howto Make Health Innovation Worthwhile”
at The Sukosol Hotel Bangkok. The event
was attended by medical professionals,researchers, and innovation developersfrom the public and private sectors.

2Dr. Yot Teerawattananon, Secretary Generalof the HITAP Foundation, and Dr. Wang Yi,Assistant Professor at NUS, shared theirknowledge and experience about “earlyHealth Technology Assessment” or early
HTA, covering the topics such as, whatmakes a health innovation “desirable” and“marketable”, and how to know if it is worth
investing in research and development of acertain health innovation.

In this regard, the Medical Innovation and Development Assessment Support or MIDAS, acollaboration between HITAP Foundation and NUS, was officially introduced at the eventas an expert team specializing in early HTA. MIDAS serves as an initiative derived from aMemorandum of Understanding (MOU) on “Collaboration on Priority Setting and Early HealthTechnology Assessment of Health Innovations in Thailand” signed by HITAP Foundation, NUS,
and their leading partner agencies including the Thailand Science Research and Innovation(TSRI), the Thailand Center of Excellence for Life Sciences (TCELS), and the National HealthSecurity Office (NHSO).

Currently one of a few in the world and the one and only in Asia, MIDAS aims to support
health technology innovators and funders in their development of innovation during theresearch and development phase through interdisciplinary collaboration and cutting-edge
research through services which include identifying target product profiles (TPPs), developing
early health economic modelling, designing clinical trials, as well as organizing training andcapacity building sessions of early HTA in Thailand and beyond in order to create positivechange in medical innovation and healthcare system.

For more information, please visit

www.midas-health.com
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MORU Members

Join EMCR Workshop

Picture 1: Group photo

Some members of MAEMOD (Mathematical and Economic MODelling) team at Mahidol Oxford
Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU) including Wirichada Pan-ngum, Thitiya Theparod (MahasarakhamUniversity), Weerakorn Thichumpa (Ph.D. student), and Pavadee Chuaicharoen (Ph.D. student) joined theEarly and Mid-Career Researcher (EMCR) Workshop at the SPECTRUM & SPARK Annual Meeting on February
13, 2023 at RACV Cape Schanck Resort, Australia.

The Workshop , attended by 45 participants,
including Master’s and PhD students, recently graduatedpost doctorate researchers, and senior researchers,
comprised international keynote presentations, aposter session, professional development activities,
a banquet dinner, and prizes. The participants wereable to share their current or completed research inrelation to SPECTRUM & SPARK key themes, including
emerging infectious diseases, endemic infections,quantitative skills, and methods for policy. This has
certainly strengthened the network of modellers andsecured potential future research collaborations.
Picture 2: MAEMOD team was doing the session
on exchanging culture.

4On May 24, 2023
40+ students, scientistsand interested members of the public attended
Pint of Science Thailand, organized by MORU,at Café Narasingh in Bangkok.

May 22-24, 2023, which featured thousands of researchers across hundredsof cities in 26 countries, who shared and discussed their research withpeople in a local pub, bar, cafe, or public space.
Pint of Science Thailand featured three researchers: Lt. Col. Asst. Prof. Dr.
Kanlaya Jongcherdchootrakul, a field epidemiologist from Phramongkutklao
College of Medicine; Dr. Palang Chotsiri, Senior Scientist from MORU’sClinical Pharmacology Department; and Dr. Chayada Piantham, Data Scientist
from MORU’s Clinical Therapeutics Unit (CTU).
Dr. Kanlaya kicked off the evening with a talk about heat stroke. She
described the growing number of strokes due to rising temperatures, earlysigns and symptoms, and heat stroke prevention.
Dr. Palang introduced some pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic
models and discussed how to design dose regimens to optimise patient
impact. He noted knowledge gaps in his field, particularly those involving
drug design for vulnerable groups.

Finally, Dr. Chayada demonstrated how natural selection can berepresented mathematically using the ratio of reproductive rates between
two competing strains. She used this concept to fit a model to COVID-19
data to quantify the fitness advantage of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant over
the Alpha strain.

Pint of Science Thailand 2023

The event was part of the annual global Pint of Science festival, between

For more information about Pint of Science Thailand, please visit
www.pintofscienceth.com, or Facebook and Twitter @pintofscienceTH

5In-Person Seminars Are Back in HIAS

For the first time in three years, two HIAS (Hitotsubashi Institute forAdvanced Study) Health seminars were held in-person in January andMarch 2023.

Prof. Raymond Duch from University of
Oxford presented the results of a recent
experiment testing the effect of financial
incentive on COVID-19 vaccine taken up
in rural Ghana. The study was conductedin collaboration with SAPPHIRE and waspartially funded by the International
Decision Support Initiative (iDSI) Plus.

6Dr. Wanrudee Isaranuwatchai and Ms. Chittawan Poonsiri,
both from HITAP, presented research on health technology
assessment and systems research relating to Evusheld andhigh-cost users in Thailand. Dr. Wanrudee and Ms. Chittawan
also participated in an international meeting on healthpromotion and prevention of noncommunicable diseases,
led by HIAS Health for the Ministry of Health, Labour andWelfare of Japan.

NHF and HITAP Co-Host Forum on Open Data
Movement to Support Research Development
and Health Policies in Thailand

To celebrate the “International Open Data Day”

the National Health Foundation (NHF) together
with HITAP hosted an online knowledgeexchange forum, “Open Data Movement toSupport Research Development and Health
Policies in Thailand” on March 3, 2023. The
discussion was led by Dr. Piya Hanvoravongchai,
Secretary-General of NHF, and featured by four
renowned speakers providing case studies,insights and perspectives as data custodians,
data users, and experts in the open data field.

This forum is part of a research project titled “Open Data
Catalytic Initiative for Research and Policy Support inThailand” under the strategic priority “Convergence ofDigital Health Platforms and Health Information Systems
Implementation in Thailand” derived from the Country
Cooperation Strategy (CCS) 2022 – 2026 by the World HealthOrganization (WHO) and the Royal Thai Government.

Dr. Lalitaya Kongkam
Deputy Secretary-General, National Health Security OfficeProf. Dr. Virasakdi Chongsuvivatwong
Faculty of Medicine, Prince of Songkla University
Ms. Nongnuch Thanthithum
Deputy Director, Division of Injury Prevention,
Department of Disease Control, Ministry of Public HealthDr. Boonchai KijsanayotinFounder and President, Asia eHealth Information
Network (AeHIN)

List of Speakers

Dr. Piya Hanvoravongchai
Secretary-General, National Health Foundation

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