Leading Telepharmacy Provider Signs Exclusive Agreement to Introduce Pharm-Q Medication Order Management Solution to Canada

WINNIPEG, MANITOBA--(Marketwire - May 13, 2011) - North West Telepharmacy Solutions ("NTS"), Canada's leading provider of Telepharmacy solutions to Canadian hospitals, is pleased to announce the signing of an exclusive software distribution agreement with Envision Telepharmacy for Pharm-Q Medication Order Management (MOM) software for Canada.

North West Telepharmacy Solutions introduced Canada's first telepharmacy service for small- to medium-sized hospitals in Ontario in order to provide hospitals with high quality, flexible pharmacy services in the areas of medication order reviews and drug information, 24 hours a day. The Telepharmacy Solution enables hospitals to apply technology to improve the quality of its hospital pharmacy service while lowering costs. The addition of Envision's Pharm-Q MOM will enable hospitals to further improve the movement of orders and improve communication between nurses and the hospital's pharmacy while allowing physicians to continue to hand-write orders.

"We are excited to enter this exclusive agreement with Envision" Dalbir Bains, Vice-President, Planning and Corporate Development at The North West Company stated, "the introduction of Pharm-Q Medication Order Management is a logical extension of our service offering to Canadian health care facilities".

In keeping with NTS's key feature of "flexibility" or "flexible service contracts", NTS selected Envision's Pharm-Q MOM solution because of the ease at which Envision's remotely hosted and browser-based MOM solution integrates with nearly any hospital pharmacy's processes and IT infrastructure.

Envision CEO Emily Alexander, PharmD, BCPS stated, "Envision is delighted to be working with North West Telepharmacy Solutions to bring remotely hosted, browser-based medication order management technologies to NTS's clients. We are especially excited about the advantages of our Pharm-Q MOM product, which lowers the overall cost of ownership compared to client-server based solutions." Alexander also pointed to Envision's on-going investments in product development that allow fast response to new, emerging technologies and changing order entry practices.

About North West Telepharmacy Solutions:

As a division of The North West Company, North West Telepharmacy Solutions began in 2004 and has grown to be Canada's leading provider of hospital telepharmacy services. The pharmacist team currently provides pharmacy services to more than 34 Canadian hospitals. These services include Pharmacist remote medication order review, patient Warfarin dosing service, after hour pharmacist on call service and other medication safety solutions.

The North West Company is a leading retailer of food and everyday products and services to rural communities and urban neighbourhoods in Canada, Alaska, the South Pacific and the Caribbean. North West operates 230 stores under the trading names Northern, NorthMart, Giant Tiger, AC Value Center and Cost-U-Less and has annualized sales of approximately CDN$1.5 billion.

The common shares of The North West Company Inc. trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "NWC".

About Envision Telepharmacy, LLC:

Envision Telepharmacy was established in 2004 to provide better ways to extend pharmacy services for U.S. hospitals and health care systems in need. It is a pioneer in developing tools, services and systems that provide electronic supervision and remote order processing through high-bandwidth, standards-based web technology, still imaging, and high resolution video. Pharm Q™ is a trademark of Envision Telepharmacy, LLC. All rights reserved.