Amazon Launches First Prescription Drone Delivery Service in Texas City

A drone delivering prescription drugs in College Station, Texas. (Amazon via AP)

Amazon will soon make prescription drugs fall from the sky when the e-commerce giant becomes the latest company to test drone deliveries for medications, the company announced on Wednesday.

Residents in College Station, Texas, can choose to have their medications delivered by a drone within an hour of placing their order. There is no additional cost for the service, according to a news release.

“For decades, the customer experience has been to drive to a pharmacy with limited operating hours, stand in line, and have a public conversation about your health situation, or to wait five-to-10 days for traditional mail-order delivery,” said John Love, vice president of Amazon Pharmacy. “With Amazon Pharmacy, you can quickly get the medications you need—whether by drone or standard delivery—without having to miss soccer practice or leave work early.”

Customers in College Station will have access to more than 500 medications to treat common illnesses, including flu and pneumonia. Controlled substances are not eligible for drone delivery.

Amazon Prime already provides prescription delivery within two days for some of its medications. However, Mr. Love said that is not helpful for someone who has an acute illness such as the flu.

“We’re making the process of getting the acute and chronic medications customers need easier, faster, and more affordable,“ he said. ”Rapid delivery changes the prescription delivery paradigm from days to minutes and represents a dramatic improvement over what patients are used to.”

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Amazon Pharmacy also offers same-day delivery in a handful of markets, including Austin, Miami, Phoenix, Seattle, and Indianapolis.

Earlier this year, the company added RxPass for Prime members, which charges customers a flat monthly fee of $5 for delivery on eligible prescriptions.

In 2013, Amazon announced its drone delivery program, but it has struggled to get the service off the ground due to technical and regulatory issues, Wired reported in April. Billionaire Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder, had predicted at the time that the company would be making deliveries by 2018. Ten years later, the e-commerce giant is only using the technology in a small number of markets.

Last December, Amazon’s Prime Air division began testing deliveries of common household items in College Station and Lockeford, Calif. Since launching the service, the company has made thousands of deliveries and is expanding to include prescriptions due in part to requests from customers, Amazon spokesperson Jessica Bardoulas said.

Later on Wednesday, Amazon said it has plans to add a third U.S. city to its drone delivery and locations in Italy and the United Kingdom by the end of 2024. The exact locations will be disclosed in the coming months, the company said.

The company also unveiled its newest Prime Air drone, the MK30, which will replace the drones currently used in the U.S. by the end of 2024. The new drone is quieter and can fly twice as far as previous models. It will take off vertically before transitioning into a horizontal wing-borne flight, Amazon said.

Amazon is not alone in its attempts to use drones to deliver prescriptions. In 2019, drugstore chain CVS partnered with UPS to test drone deliveries but has since ended the program, a CVS spokesman said.

Two years ago, Intermountain Health started delivering prescriptions via drone in the Salt Lake City area. Earlier this month, the company announced it is partnering with logistics company Zipline to expand its program.

How Does Amazon Drone Delivery Work?

Amazon drones are programmed to fly from a delivery center with a secure pharmacy to the customer’s address.

Amazon says its drones can reach an altitude of 120 meters, or about 400 feet, and they have the ability to navigate around people, pets, and power lines using “built-in-sense-and-avoid technology.”

“Our drones fly over traffic, eliminating the excess time a customer’s package might spend in transit on the road,” said Calsee Hendrickson, director of product and program management at Prime Air. “Speed and convenience top the wish list for health purchases.”

Once the drone arrives at the customer’s home, it slowly descends to about 4 meters, or 14 feet, above a delivery marker. After ensuring the delivery zone is clear of people, pets, or objects, the drone drops the padded package.

The company has been growing its healthcare presence over the past few years. Aside from adding a pharmacy, Amazon spent nearly $4 billion in its acquisition of primary care provider One Medical last year. In August, telemedicine services were added across all 50 states.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.