Associated Couriers LLC, a Hazelwood-based health care logistics firm, plans to take to the skies soon to pilot a new way to deliver drugs to patients.
The courier company said it will begin using drones to transport medications through a partnership with San Francisco-based drone company Zipline. Financial terms of Associated Couriers’ plans to integrate Zipline’s technology into its operations were not disclosed.
Associated Couriers, founded in 1977, provides delivery services of health care and life science goods. It says it makes more than 400,000 monthly deliveries in the health care and life sciences industries. With its headquarters at 4806 Trade Access Blvd., Associated Couriers is a subsidiary of Kelsterbach, Germany-based Life Logistics Global. It has rapidly expanded in recent years, growing its annual revenue to $90 million, up from $26 million three years ago. The revenue growth follows several acquisitions Associated Couriers has made in recent years, expanding its services and footprint, with operations in the United Kingdom.
The partnership with Zipline partners Associated Couriers with a high-profile drone company. Zipline has raised more than $800 million from investors and is valued at $4.2 billion. Associated Couriers CEO Matt Silverberg said he became familiar with Zipline after reading a news article about how the company was doing health care deliveries in Africa.
“It made me think about the future of drones in the health care logistics space in the U.S. and what their plans were, so I reached out,” he said.
By teaming up with Zipline, Associated Couriers claims it will be the “first-ever U.S.-based life science logistics company to provide autonomous home delivery.” Associated Couriers said it will begin using the drones to make deliveries for a client to long-term care facilities in Long Island, New York. Silverberg declined to name the client. He expects the company will begin making deliveries using drones in 2024.
The company’s use of drones is expected to cut the time it takes for medications to be delivered, Silverberg said. Associated Couriers currently has a window of two to three hours to have a driver show up and then deliver medications, he said, and a drone could complete the delivery as quickly as 15 minutes.
“It’s significantly increasing the speed to get that delivery done,” Silverberg said.
Associated Couriers said the Zipline drones it plans to use for deliveries can fly 300-plus feet in the air and include a “delivery droid” that is lowered to drop off packages at their destination. The drones can be used to make deliveries within a 10-mile radius or be used in a network in which drones can travel 24 miles at a time, the company said.
“Zipline’s instant delivery solution is faster, more convenient and better for the environment than traditional automotive delivery. We provide the best delivery experience on earth for consumers and businesses of any size, industry and location,” said Irene Scher, senior vice president of U.S. go-to-market at Zipline. “We’re excited to go above and beyond for Associated Couriers’ customers.”
After piloting the drone technology in Long Island, Associated Couriers will seek to expand its usage to other locations in the U.S. and globally, Silverberg said he believes it will be an attractive offering to customers, allowing them to speed up deliveries while reducing costs, compared to ground delivery.
Associated Couriers operates 25 logistic hubs across the U.S. and United Kingdom and has 300 employees and 1,200 contract employees.
