Amazon Announces Test Drone Prescription Delivery Service

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Facts

  • Amazon has announced a test program that will use drones to deliver medical prescriptions to patients by dropping packages on customers’ doorsteps within 60 minutes of placing their order.1
  • The e-commerce giant announced Wednesday that the pilot drone delivery service will start with customers in College Station, Texas, allowing them to receive the deliveries from Amazon Pharmacy at no additional cost.2
  • Amazon Pharmacy is partnering with the company’s drone service, Prime Air, which began its commercial deliveries in College Station last December. Residents of the city will now have the option to select 'delivery by drone' when checking out on Amazon Pharmacy.3
  • Eligible customers will have access to more than 500 medications as well as treatments for ailments such as asthma and the flu. Amazon launched its full-service pharmacy in 2020 and has been working on drone delivery for years; despite some difficulties, Prime Air says the drones are equipped with cameras that allow them to identify objects such as people and animals.4
  • The pharmacy drone is programmed to fly from a delivery center with a secure pharmacy and will travel to the customer’s home before dropping a padded package from 13 feet (almost 4 meters) in the air. Prime Air has been testing drone deliveries in College Station and Lockeford, California, and the company says it will launch drone operations in a third US city as well as locations in Italy and the UK.5
  • While Amazon Prime already delivers some medications within two days, pharmacy Vice President John Love says that doesn't help customers who have acute illnesses. CVS had also tried partnering with UPS to deliver prescriptions via drone in North Carolina, but it ended the program in 2019.5

Sources: 1Cleveland, 2CBS, 3Fierce Healthcare, 4CNBC and 5Associated Press.

Narratives

  • Narrative A, as provided by Forbes. Amazon continues to amaze as it announces a revolutionary program that will deliver medications to customers' homes via drones. It's hard to properly convey just how disruptive this feat is to the pharmacy industry, but it is a testament to Amazon’s planning and ingenuity. Since the COVID pandemic, the global healthcare system has been severely strained, and patients have had to deal with understaffed pharmacies and prescription shortages. Amazon's latest program will add even more value to consumers.
  • Narrative B, as provided by TechCrunch. Amazon's announcement of drone deliveries of medication is certainly a novel development, but it has a long way to go before it can be hailed as some game-changer. Amazon has long teased drone delivery, and it has seen mixed results over the years with many regulators taking aim at the supply chain goliath. After years of promises, Amazon will test operations in one US city — that’s nice, but that doesn't change everything for the massive pharmaceutical industry. Let's see how the pilot deliveries go before making any sweeping declarations.

Predictions