Marie Donlon | July 11, 2022
A trial of drones delivering chemotherapy to patients in Hampshire, England, is currently underway.
Calling the trial the first of its kind, England’s National Health Service (NHS) is employing drones from a medical drone start-up called Apian to deliver chemotherapy drugs from Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust to St Mary’s Hospital on the Isle of Wight, cutting delivery times from four hours to 30 minutes.
Source: Apian
The trial is intended to demonstrate that drones can offer not only prompt delivery of critical medications, but also cut costs and carbon emissions associated with the transport of such medications.
Additionally, medical drones are expected to reduce the difficulty of delivering medications like chemotherapy, which tend to have shorter shelf lives.
