Monday, August 31, 2026

8:00 AM - 8:45 AM

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Details

Moderators: Chairs to be confirmed Programme: Overview MOMO-0401 - Pharmacists Connecting the Dots: The Integrated Role in Indonesia and India Healthcare systems today are increasingly complex, requiring strong coordination across innovation, regulation, supply chains, and patient care. In many settings, these domains operate in parallel, often separated by institutional or sectoral boundaries. Yet medicines—whether small molecules, biologics, vaccines, or advanced therapies—require consistent professional stewardship throughout their journey. Pharmacists are uniquely educated and trained to understand and oversee this full continuum. In both India and Indonesia, pharmacists are positioned across the entire pharmaceutical ecosystem, spanning research and development, manufacturing, quality assurance, regulatory affairs, distribution, and pharmaceutical services. This integrated model reflects a long-standing recognition of pharmacists as medicines experts—not only at the point of care, but throughout production and governance systems. As the profession continues to expand its clinical and patient-centred services, sustaining strong engagement in upstream and system-level responsibilities remains equally essential. The evolving healthcare landscape presents both opportunities and challenges. Greater emphasis on direct patient care has strengthened pharmacists’ visibility in hospitals and community practice. At the same time, maintaining leadership in manufacturing quality, regulatory compliance, and supply chain integrity requires continued professional commitment and policy alignment. Ensuring coherence across these domains is critical to safeguarding medicine quality, patient safety, and public trust. The shared experience of India and Indonesia demonstrates a broader vision: pharmacists as integrators of innovation and care—professionals who connect the dots across the health system to ensure that every therapeutic advancement ultimately translates into safe, effective, and accountable care for society. MOMO-0402 – Connecting independent pharmacies through digital transformation: improving collaboration and patient experience Independent community pharmacies worldwide are under increasing pressure from vertically integrated platforms and large online providers. At the same time, patients expect seamless digital services, real-time information and convenient access to medicines. This session presents how the Austrian Chamber of Pharmacists has developed a pharmacist-governed digital infrastructure that strengthens independent pharmacies while enhancing patient engagement and convenience. At the centre of this initiative is ApoApp, a patient-oriented smartphone application providing reliable information on pharmacy services, opening hours, locations and medication advice. Its most transformative feature is real-time medicine availability. For this purpose, independent pharmacies voluntarily share selected stock data with the Chamber, enabling patients to identify where a required medicine is currently available. Although participation is voluntary, uptake among Austrian pharmacies is high — reflecting strong professional trust in the governance model and recognition of the collective value of shared digital infrastructure. Crucially, sensitive commercial data remains under the control of pharmacists. The Chamber operates the infrastructure on behalf of the profession, safeguarding data sovereignty and preventing external platform capture. The system is designed to promote cooperation and collective visibility, not internal competition. This case study illustrates how digital solutions, when owned and governed by the profession, can reinforce independence, foster collaboration and deliver tangible convenience for patients.

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Chairs & speakers