By Marc Vartabedian
A handful of drone-delivery startups want to help transport
Covid-19 vaccines from distribution facilities to health centers,
vying for a logistical role in what is likely to be a sprawling and
complex undertaking.
Several of these businesses recently have entered into medical
delivery partnerships with drug companies and retailers --
including Merck & Co. and Walmart Inc. -- that could help
position them to take part in the high-profile effort to distribute
Covid-19 vaccines.
Meanwhile, some startups have discussed with governments around
the world their ability to use unmanned aerial drones to transport
vaccine doses, mainly in remote areas.
The efforts are indicative of drone companies' ambitions to
reshape shipping and logistics. Delivering Covid-19 vaccines would
enable drone startups to demonstrate to investors and potential
customers on a world stage their ability to streamline operations
and cut costs across distribution networks.
Venture-capital investors have poured $405 million into drone
startups through the first nine months of this year, which is
roughly on par with recent years, according to Teal Group Corp., an
aerospace and defense analytics firm.
To be sure, using drones to transport Covid-19 vaccines likely
would represent a sliver of the overall effort. They would
primarily be for hard-to-access regions and fly along fixed routes
to move doses in bulk. Tight security measures under consideration
by governments and companies meant to guard against theft and
highly specific storage temperature requirements would have to be
factored in. In some cases, distributing Covid-19 vaccines would be
an extension of existing aerial medical deliveries these companies
already are performing.
Drone fleets can reduce reliance on drivers, increase delivery
capacity and speed up the time it takes for supplies to reach
patients, said Hannan Parvizian, co-founder and chief executive of
drone company Volansi Inc. These advantages would be valuable in
complex and urgent Covid-19 vaccine distribution, Mr. Parvizian
said.
"We think truly that this technology is going to be a key
element of the Covid vaccine distribution," Mr. Parvizian said.
Fleets of dozens of drones, for instance, could make half-hour
trips delivering thousands of vials each day to health centers in
remote areas.
Pharmaceutical giant Merck partnered with Volansi in September
to fly medicines and vaccines from a Merck manufacturing facility
in North Carolina to a nearby health clinic in unmanned autonomous
drones. North Carolina hospital system Vidant Health is
participating in the program, which is using an electric Volansi
drone capable of carrying roughly 5 pounds of medical cargo to
locations up to 50 miles away.
The partnership with Volansi is separate from Merck's Covid-19
vaccine development efforts and is designed to demonstrate drones'
ability to transport medicines and vaccines and explore ways to
expand Merck's supply-chain capabilities, a Merck spokeswoman
said.
Volansi has also engaged in discussions with the U.S. military
about how its technology can help distribute a Covid-19 vaccine,
Mr. Parvizian said.
Volansi already offers an aerial transport service for machine
parts and other cargo to industrial companies and the U.S.
military. It has developed temperature-control technology that
would likely be needed to transport Covid-19 vaccines, Mr.
Parvizian added. Some vaccines in development could require storage
at temperatures as cold as minus 80 degrees Celsius, or minus 112
degrees Fahrenheit.
Merck and San Francisco-based Volansi have collaborated since
2018 on the use of drones to deliver medicines and vaccines during
crises. Merck, a longtime vaccine maker, recently began testing one
of its experimental Covid-19 vaccine candidates in healthy
volunteers in Belgium.
Volansi raised $50 million from investors including Lightspeed
Venture Partners in September.
Australian drone company, Swoop Aero, also is preparing for a
Covid-19 vaccine breakthrough. The startup's Chief Executive Eric
Peck discussed with the Democratic Republic of the Congo's head of
public health in October about delivering a Covid-19 vaccine via
drone once one becomes available, according to Sabrina Ravail, the
head of commercial at Swoop Aero. The startup is developing a drone
delivery network in the country that could be used to distribute
Covid-19 vaccines.
The startup has had similar discussions with officials in
Australia and New Zealand, Ms. Ravail said.
Swoop Aero, which operates fleets of electric fixed-wing drones
that take off and land vertically, has delivered vaccines, such as
for Ebola, as well as other medical supplies, in Africa since 2018.
Some of the company's aircraft can fly up to 90 miles on a single
charge and carry more than 500 doses of vaccines.
Although the Federal Aviation Administration, the U.S. sector's
regulating body, has taken recent steps to expand commercial drone
opportunities, existing rules would restrict widespread adoption in
population centers. For instance, restrictions on drone flight
outside operators' visual lines of sight would inhibit large-scale
rollout efforts in the U.S., Mr. Parvizian said.
Despite the challenges, pilot testing is ramping up in the U.S.
This fall, drone services provider DroneUp LLC began a partnership
with Walmart and Quest Diagnostics Inc. DroneUp's aircraft are
delivering Covid-19 test kits to single-family homes in North Las
Vegas and a Buffalo, N.Y. suburb within a one mile radius of
designated stores there. The Virginia-based startup generates
revenue from services such as inspecting telecommunications towers
but is pushing into delivery, DroneUp founder and CEO Tom Walker
said.
"If Covid vaccines were something we could feasibly deliver,
we'd be all over it," Mr. Walker said. "It's certainly something
we're discussing."
A Walmart spokeswoman said the pilot project with DroneUp will
help the company learn about the role drone deliveries can play in
pandemic response, health-care delivery and retail.
Write to Marc Vartabedian at marc.vartabedian@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 01, 2020 09:14 ET (14:14 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Walmart (NYSE:WMT)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jun 2024 to Jul 2024
Walmart (NYSE:WMT)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jul 2023 to Jul 2024