UPS yesterday launched a “groundbreaking” new logistics service to deliver medical samples via unmanned drones within a hospital complex in the US, in a collaboration with Matternet, a leader in autonomous drone technology.
It said this marked the first time that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had sanctioned use of a drone for routine revenue flights involving the transport of a product under a contractual delivery agreement.
The flights are taking place at WakeMed’s flagship hospital and campus in the Raleigh, North Carolina metropolitan area, with oversight by the FAA and North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT).
UPS explained that the program with Matternet represents a major milestone for unmanned aviation in the United States. Currently, the majority of medical samples and specimens transported across WakeMed’s expanding health system by courier cars. The addition of drone transport provides an option for on-demand and same-day delivery, the ability to avoid roadway delays, increase medical delivery efficiency, lower costs and improve the patient experience with potentially life-saving benefits.
NCDOT, which is working to leverage drones to expand healthcare access for the residents of North Carolina, supported Matternet in conducting first-round test flights using Matternet’s drone technology on WakeMed’s campus in August 2018 as part of the FAA’s Unmanned Aircraft System Integration Pilot Program (IPP).
The program will utilize Matternet’s M2 quadcopter, which is powered by a rechargeable lithium-ion battery and can carry medical payloads weighing up to about 5 lbs. over distances of up to 12.5 miles.
Throughout the WakeMed program, a medical professional will load a secure drone container with a medical sample or specimen – such as a blood sample – at one of WakeMed’s nearby facilities. The drone will fly along a predetermined flight path, monitored by a specially trained Remote Pilot-in-Command (RPIC), to a fixed landing pad at WakeMed’s main hospital and central pathology lab.
UPS and Matternet will use the learnings from the WakeMed program to consider how drones can be applied to improve transport services at other hospitals and medical facilities across the US.
UPS underlined that enhancing its Global Smart Logistics Network to support hospitals and other healthcare organizations remains a key element of the company’s transformation strategy. Healthcare and life science logistics is a priority segment for UPS, and the company is building new relationships and technologies to deliver better patient care with streamlined logistics and supply chain.
The WakeMed program is the latest example of UPS utilizing drone flights in support of healthcare logistics. UPS partnered with GAVI and Zipline in 2016 to deliver blood products to remote locations in Rwanda. The Matternet team has already completed more than 3,000 flights for healthcare systems in Switzerland.
In a separate development in the healthcare sector, reported by Reuters, UPS is preparing to test a service in the US that dispatches nurses to vaccinate adults in their homes, as the company and its healthcare clients work to fend off cost pressures and competitive threats from Amazon.com.
UPS did not disclose which vaccines it would be using in the project, but drug and vaccine maker Merck & Co told Reuters it is looking at partnering with the company for the initiative.
The project illustrates how UPS is targeting a larger slice of the $85 billion outsourced healthcare logistics market. Deutsche Post’s DHL Group is currently the leading player in this market, which is expected to grow to $105 billion by 2021.
“Over-the-threshold services is where the world is headed,” Chris Cassidy, who joined UPS last year from GlaxoSmithKline PLC to oversee global healthcare logistics strategy, told Reuters in an interview at UPS’ Worldport facility in Louisville.
The report revealed how the test, slated to launch later this year, will operate: Workers in UPS’ 1.7 million-square-foot healthcare complex at Worldport will package and ship the vaccine to one of the more 4,700 franchised US UPS stores. A home health nurse contracted by UPS’ clinical trial logistics unit known as Marken will collect the insulated package, transport it the “last mile” to the patient’s home and administer the vaccine, which will target a viral illness in adults.
The aim of the test is to “see if we can connect all these dots,” said Wes Wheeler, chief executive at Marken, which was purchased by UPS in 2016 and is overseeing the vaccine project.
