Student Researchers' Society Topics

In recent years, there has been a growing number of innovative drug therapies that significantly improve the effectiveness of treating many chronic and serious diseases through their targeted mechanisms of action. These include biological products and small molecule targeted agents, the use of which has fundamentally transformed the therapeutic options for certain diseases.
However, in addition to increased therapeutic efficacy, the issue of safety is also of paramount importance, as the novel mechanisms of action of these products can lead to serious, even life-threatening adverse effects. These may include infectious complications and damage to various organ systems, which may result in modification or discontinuation of treatment or failure of therapy.
Drug-drug interactions are responsible for a significant proportion of adverse drug reactions. Traditionally, the focus of research has been on long-established drugs, but the role of interactions is particularly important in complex, multi-drug treatments for high-risk patient groups. Due to their impact on therapeutic decisions and the need to modify treatment strategies, it is essential to identify these interactions.
The use of complementary products, such as herbal products and vitamins, should also be taken into account when evaluating drug treatments, as these can also affect the efficacy and safety of drug therapy. Currently, there is limited data available on the extent and manner in which various concomitant treatments and complementary products affect targeted drug therapies in the domestic healthcare system.
Building on previous experience, the aim of the planned study is to map the medicines and complementary products used among patients receiving complex drug treatment and to collect data on the frequency and expected clinical significance of potential drug interactions. The study will also contribute to defining the framework and content of clinical pharmacy activities aimed at optimizing drug supply.

Co-Supervisor: Dr. ASHRAF, Amir Reza

Artificial Intelligence (AI) opens up new possibilities for the development and optimisation of various healthcare services. Drug related problems, including drug-drug and drug-health product interactions, are a constant challenge for healthcare professionals.

Therefore, we aim to investigate the applicability and accuracy of AI chatbots (ChatGPT-3.5, ChatGPT-4) for screening selected clinically relevant drug-drug and drug-disease interactions. The development of our methodology is also complicated by the ever-changing and restrictive regulatory environment for the applicability of AI chatbots and large language models for healthcare questions.

The challenges of our preliminary findings and methodological development highlight the potential of AI tools in patient care, but understanding the applicability of these tools is necessary to integrate them into already available pharmacist interventions (pharmacutical care, medication review) for patient safety in both direct-to-patient medication management and hospital-clinical care.

How much can improving medication adherence be considered as a priority for health policy in Hungary at present?

The online pharmaceutical market is dominated by perpetrators engaged in illicit acts that endanger patient safety. Unfortunately, despite this evident danger, participants in the health care system are seemly indifferent to this widespread international phenomenon as research in this area has been lacking resulting in limited real-world data on patient harm associated with illegal internet pharmacies and falsified medications. Consequently, deployment of counter measures has been ineffective, enabling illegal pharmacies to operate unchecked in Hungary, EU and globally posing a serious threat to the population. Previous projects and publications of our research group focused on the evaluation of website characteristics for risk assessment. In the current new project, bring together academics and PhD students in our research group, we aim to step forward to document previously unpublished real-world data on market share, service and product quality of illegitimate online pharmacies. Online market intelligence insights based on traffic analytics will be used to analyze website traffic, visitor behavior and intention, and market share of online vendors. The quality of online pharmacy information and consultation service will be assessed by using simulated patient profiles with high patient safety risks. Finally, test purchases with qualitative and quantitative analysis will provide valuable evidence on product related potential hazards of purchasing from unauthorized websites.

Typical treatment pathways at the Univeristy of Pécs among patients diagnosed with prostate cancer

Co-Supervisor: Dr. VIDA, Róbert György

Internet pharmacies are trending in most countries and have become popular participants in the pharmaceutical supply chain, especially for consumer healthcare products. The global market size is estimated to be more than US$50 billion and is growing at an impressive rate. Depending on national regulations majority of legitimate and verified websites offer non-prescription, herbal products, dietary supplements, cosmetics, etc., meanwhile, in some countries, prescription-only medicines are also available via distant selling. Unfortunately, benefits are hindered by patient safety concerns due to illegal vendors overwhelming the online pharmacy landscape. The student research project is focused on the better understanding of online vendors and e-pharmacy shoppers, aiming to maximize benefits and limit potential harms associated with online medicinal product purchases.