Development of a Personalized Herbal Medicine System Based on Thai Traditional Medicine: A Prototype Framework for Psoriasis Care in Thailand

Abstract

Personalized herbal medicine systems have gained increasing attention within modern healthcare, particularly for chronic diseases characterized by heterogeneous clinical manifestations, fluctuating disease courses, and variable treatment responses. However, the use of individualized herbal formulations in Thai traditional medicine has historically lacked structured knowledge organization, standardized governance frameworks, and systematic clinical outcome monitoring. This review synthesizes current knowledge on the development of personalized herbal medicine systems derived from Thai traditional medicine formulations, using psoriasis as a case study to illustrate the development of a structured personalized herbal therapy system in Thailand. The review covers conceptual mapping between Thai traditional medicine disease classifications and clinical psoriasis phenotypes, the collection and synthesis of 23 reference formulations, cross–formulation ingredient analysis resulting in a structured repository of 114 herbal ingredients, and the development of a “12 + 1 + 1” therapeutic framework consisting of 12 oral formulations stratified by phenotype and disease severity, together with one topical formulation and one herbal bath formulation. The framework is discussed within the context of managed variability and a structured decentralized care model. The review also examines the Contextual Research Design for Herbal Medicine framework, which conceptualizes the relationships among theoretical principles, formulation architecture, therapeutic variability, healthcare delivery systems, outcome measures, and regulatory structures within personalized herbal medicine. Challenges related to standardization, evidence generation, reimbursement mechanisms, and governance under the National List of Herbal Medicines are also discussed. The available evidence suggests that personalized herbal medicine represents a transition from recipe–based traditional knowledge toward a structured therapeutic system capable of supporting traceability, clinical monitoring, quality governance, and real–world evidence generation within modern health systems. Nevertheless, further evidence regarding clinical effectiveness, safety, cost–effectiveness, and implementation feasibility is required to support broader integration into healthcare systems. The concepts discussed in this review may provide a conceptual foundation for the future development of personalized herbal medicine systems for psoriasis and other chronic diseases.