Residents in rural North Carolina will soon get meds delivered by drone

Drug-maker Merck and drone-maker Volansi have teamed up to deliver medication to residents in rural parts of North Carolina.

Residents in rural North Carolina will soon get meds delivered by drone

Volansi’s seven-foot-long ‘Gemini’ quadcopter will be used to transport the medical supplies, such as vaccines, glaucoma treatments, insulin, and asthma inhalers — from Merck’s Wilson, NC drug lab to the Vidant Healthplex-Wilson, reports Engadget. More than 1.4 million people across 29 counties in eastern North Carolina are served through this network.

“We’ve seen the world’s supply chain strained like never before from the impact of Coronavirus,” said Hannan Parvizian, CEO of Volansi, said in a press statement. “There’s now an accelerated need for rapid advancements in supply chain technology, especially in healthcare. Drone delivery is one solution to getting critical supplies where they are needed, at the moment they are needed most.”

Volansi’s Gemini drones are vertical-take-off-and-landing (VTOL) aircraft with a maximum speed of 60 mph and a range of 50 miles. The drones can carry payloads of up to 10 pounds.

Once the Gemini drone arrives at its destination it will land and release its package automatically.

Volansi is working with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to expand its medical drone deliver program with two additional phases that would cover a much larger area.

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