TORONTO, Sept. 15, 2025
Specialty medicines are reshaping Canadian healthcare. As more breakthrough therapies enter the market—many requiring precise handling, monitoring, and coordination—the services that support them have become essential to safe and effective care.
"Innovations in pharmaceuticals are transforming patient care—and with them come new operational needs, more complex workflows, and higher-stakes consequences," said Sandra Hanna, CEO of Neighbourhood Pharmacies. "Specialty pharmacy services are designed to meet these challenges, ensuring patients receive the coordinated care, expertise, and support they need at every step. Patients deserve to understand their options and to choose providers with the capability and infrastructure to support their unique journey."
Neighbourhood Pharmacies is reaffirming its commitment to informed patient choice and to sustaining the specialty services that improve outcomes, ease pressure on hospitals, and strengthen a diverse and sustainable pharmacy sector. According to Neighbourhood Pharmacies' Value of Specialty Pharmacy Services report, pharmacies that deliver specialty services directly invest and offset an estimated $1 billion in economic value each year for the 1.9 million patients who are otherwise unsupported by the current public health system.
Alongside pharmacy-based services, patient support programs (PSPs) provide another critical layer of value—helping patients navigate access, reimbursement, nursing support and other needs that go beyond pharmacy care. Together, specialty services and PSPs reduce barriers to care, improve continuity, and ensure patients benefit fully from breakthrough therapies.
"Informed choice is essential to patient care, and that means giving patients the guidance, education, and support they need to navigate specialty services with confidence," said Renée St-Jean, Vice Chair of Neighbourhood Pharmacies. "Collaboration across pharmacy, PSP providers, manufacturers, and payors is how we ensure complex therapies are delivered equitably and with the highest quality standards."
These priorities will take centre stage at the Specialty Pharmacy Summit 2025: Together for Patient Care, taking place in Toronto on November 6–7, 2025. The Summit is the only national event bringing together specialty providers, pharmacy retailers, manufacturers, patient support program providers, patients, and payors to explore collaborative solutions that advance specialty care in Canada.
Learn more and register for the summit: https://site.pheedloop.com/event/NPSpecSumm25/home
For further information: Neighbourhood Pharmacy Association of Canada (https://neighbourhoodpharmacies.ca/), 416-221-9100, info@neighbourhoodpharmacies.ca