Homeocan

Few can say that they brought an industry into Canada. One of the people who can is Michèle Boisvert — a pioneer and leading expert on homeopathic medicine in Canada, and President and founder of Homeocan Inc. Boisvert received her pharmacist license from University of Montreal, and was one of the first women to own a drugstore in Quebec. In the 1970’s she started looking into the benefits of homeopathy, seeking natural alternatives to mainstream medicine for her patients, and her passion took her on a trip of a lifetime in the homeopathic field, and after acquiring a degree in homeopathy from the Mosane School in Belgium, she began introducing homeopathy in her pharmacy — the first Canadian pharmacist to offer such alternative. Boisvert authored several books on the subject of Homeopathy and often speaks at industry seminars and conferences.

In 2005, Boisvert received the “Pharmaciens de Coeur et d’action” award from the Quebec Pharmacy Board in the pharmacist innovating category. She was also featured in the magazine First in Business in 2008. The latest of the award world for Boisvert has been the 2012 Trailblazer Award from RBC’s Canadian Women Entrepreneur Awards.

Besides health, Boisvert’s passion translates into her daily life. With a bachelor’s degree in piano, she remains involved in the arts, and transfigures the Montreal art scene through serving on the Boards of Directors of the Orford Arts Centre and the I Musici de Montréal Chamber Orchestra. Boisvert also participates in fundraisers such as the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the Jean Lapointe Foundation and the Federation, of Little Brothers of the Poor.

Boisvert’s goal remains steady — to continue to grow Homeocan in Canada and internationally, to develop new and effective products, and to educate broader audiences about homeopathy.

Boisvert launched the Homeocan brand in 1987, and today Homeocan serves 3,000 customers in Canada, and 10,000 customers across 13 countries.

The Homeocan Beginning 

Homeocan manufactures and distributes a complete range of prime-quality natural products throughout North America (outside Canada, Homeocan is represented by Homeolab USA), and the company has been an industry leader in the homeopathy and natural products sector since its founding, offering a complete line of natural products including homeopathy, phytotherapy, trace minerals and aromatherapy. Homeocan products are based on prime-quality root substances mostly imported from Europe and approved by Health Canada and by the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States (HPUS). The company’s state-of-the-art production and highly trained and experienced staff are capable to handle production of orders of all sizes.

According to Boisvert, homeopathy is considered a medicine in most countries, including Canada and the United States. As such, Homeocan is required by the health authorities to acquire a license, while each product marketed requires a DIN. “We also need to prove to the governments that the products are actually efficient. If we say a cough and cold product works for a cold, it has to work, and it needs to work the same day, not ‘eventually’,” says Boisvert.

“We have sales force for pharmacy and health food stores, and we have an excellent President on the U.S. side that has a great sales force for Homeolab USA.

We just received substantial purchase orders from the U.S. so all-in-all we are doing very well. We sell our products in Russia, Croatia, Lebanon…we are in about 13 countries now,” says Boisvert.

Homeocan works to place their products right next to the allopathic [mainstream] medicine; therefore, when a customer seeks cough medicine, the Homeocan Cough and Cold product can be found right next to your usual cough medicine. “Our baby line Cough and Cold is right next to the Tylenol brand. The usual customer behaviour would be that if a mother has a sick child she will not seek homeopathic medicine. She will instead go into the cough and cold section, where she can see our product right next to the allopathic medicine, therefore she can consider it. Our goal is to position our products in this fashion, and for that we need a strong sales director to build solid relationships. This is one of the great accomplishments of our sales team,” Boisvert.

Homeocan continues to provide all natural solutions using high quality ingredients, and creates new homeopathic solutions for the common ailments. With Boisvert’s leadership and extensive knowledge, and with the interest for natural remedies growing worldwide, this experienced manufacturer surely has a great potential for growth in Canada and internationally.