Prescription medications will soon literally fall from the sky thanks to Amazon. Customers in College Station, Texas may now have their prescriptions delivered by a drone within an hour of making their purchase, the firm said on Wednesday.
The drone will fly to the customer’s location from a delivery facility with a secure pharmacy, descend to a height of roughly four meters (13 feet), and drop a cushioned box.
Amazon claims that users would be able to select from more than 500 drugs, a list that excludes banned narcotics but includes popular medications for illnesses like the flu or pneumonia.
Last December, Amazon’s Prime Air subsidiary began testing drone delivery of everyday home products in College Station and Lockeford, California. According to Jessica Bardoulas, a spokesman for Amazon, the business has shipped hundreds of packages since introducing the service and is now adding medication delivery in response to consumer demands.
By the end of next year, Amazon will also roll out drone delivery in a third U.S. location as well as Italian and British towns, the company revealed on Wednesday. The business announced that it will reveal the precise sites in the upcoming months.
The idea of using drones to deliver prescriptions is not new to Amazon. The drugstore giant CVS Health collaborated with UPS to test delivery in North Carolina in 2019 but the initiative has come to a stop, according to a CVS representative.
Drone prescription delivery was first made available by Intermountain Health in the Salt Lake City region in 2021, and the service has since been expanded, according to Daniel Duersch, supply chain director for the healthcare provider. In order to employ drones that drop products by parachute, Intermountain has partnered with the logistics firm Zipline.
Amazon has stated that their drones will fly as high as 120 meters, or roughly 400 feet, before gradually descending to the customer’s home. Before placing the product on a delivery marker, the drone will make sure the delivery area is free of any dogs, children, or other impediments.
