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Merck tests drone shipments of medical supplies in Puerto Rico

A ‘Flying Smartbox’ from AT&T and Softbox demonstrates how IoT helps safely deliver vital medicines in disaster relief efforts.

A Merck medication treatment is loaded into a drone for delivery during the “Proof of Concept” project.
A Merck medication treatment is loaded into a drone for delivery during the “Proof of Concept” project.

Merck is committed to “being the premier, research-intensive biopharmaceutical company,” delivering its medicines, vaccines, and animal health products worldwide. Whether for the treatment of diabetes, infectious diseases, oncology, or other vaccines, these medicines need to get to patients around the globe, sometimes in remote areas.

From Aug. 20-24, Kenilworth, NJ-based Merck took part in a “Proof of Concept” project with AT&T and Softbox to test connected medical payloads carried by drones. The goal? Safely deliver temperature-sensitive medicines using drones across Puerto Rico, which continues to recover from devastating hurricanes.

An LTE-connected drone carrying Softbox’s thermal-insulated packaging system “Skypod,” which includes a smartbox powered by AT&T’s Internet of Things (IoT) technology, successfully completed demonstration flights. The field trial took place in locations across Puerto Rico, with U.K.-based Softbox providing temperature-control packaging.

"Merck is pleased to collaborate on this innovative new model for delivering medicines to patients in areas affected by natural disasters," says Brenda Colatrella, Executive Director, Corporate Responsibility at Merck. "We're proud of our long history of expanding access to our medicines and vaccines and collaborating to provide humanitarian assistance. The drone test flights give us hope that we will be able to provide a reliable supply of our medicines for disaster."

For the test flights, Merck shipped a mix of inhalers, tablets, and liquid-filled vials, in weights from 250 g to 500g. Products selected were those considered most necessary for disaster relief. Specifically, these included M-M-R II and Pneumovax 23 vaccines, anti-asthma aerosols Dulera and Proventil, anti-hypertension medicine Cozaar, and insulin, the latter of which required “cold chain” conditions. Merck donated the products to Direct Relief. Products were held at local San Juan distributor Cardinal Health, where they were picked up for each drone delivery test flight.

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