TORONTO — The Neighbourhood Pharmacy Association of Canada has enhanced its annual events program, including the launch of the Pharmacy Expo, an expansion of its major annual spring gathering.

Denise Carpenter

The Canadian retail pharmacy association said Tuesday that the Pharmacy Expo, to be held June 13 to 16, 2016, at the Enercare Centre Exhibition Place in Toronto, will showcase the latest innovations in pharmacy products and services. The new expo will focus on six key business areas: pharmacy and prescription care, specialty and long-term care, consumer health, home health care, front of store, and health and beauty care.

Neighbourhood Pharmacies noted that the Pharmacy Expo will create opportunities for retailers and their suppliers to come together to form new relationships that will drive revenue, efficiencies and profits. In addition, the association said, the new event will feature a broader scope of participation from Canada’s pharmacy industry — now including the branded pharmaceutical, device, distribution, health and beauty aids, and front-end sectors — as well as provide expanded business opportunities and more efficient use of attendees’ meetings and events budgets.

Another event enhancement involves the fall Executive Summit, which will now host Neighbourhood Pharmacies’ Strategic Appointments sessions. The two-day event, to be held Oct. 28 and 29, 2015, at the Shangri-La Hotel in Toronto, brings together the industry’s senior executives to discuss and learn about the top issues driving industry change over the next 18 months to two years.

“The neighborhood pharmacy industry is undergoing dramatic change,” Denise Carpenter, president and chief executive officer of Neighbourhood Pharmacies, said in a statement. “We want our events to consistently exceed attendees’ needs and expectations and to hold the top spot on their calendars. The changes we are announcing today respond directly to attendee research and feedback. Our goal is simple: to convene industry leaders for thought-provoking discussions that will shape both new health care policy and the future of our industry.”

The Executive Summit’s featured guest speaker is Fred Horne, former Alberta Minister of Health, who is widely credited with managing the expansion of reimbursed pharmacy services in that province, beginning in 2011. Horne will address executives on the first evening and present a keynote address to the plenary session on the morning of Oct. 29.

The other featured speaker is Elliot Sogol, vice president of professional relations at Pharmacy Quality Solutions (PQS), Durham, N.C., who will deliver a presentation titled, “The Evolving Business Model of Pharmacy: Quality and Performance Metrics Impact”. Sogol is a co-author of “The Good Pharmacist: Characteristics, Virtues, Habits.” The day two program continues with a series of presentations focusing on the evolving business model of pharmacy by retail industry leaders, along with moderated roundtable discussions.