The company stated that the drone delivery system will be especially useful for people living in more remote areas, and that the deliveries will be discreet. MedExpress has emphasized that the details of their customers' purchases will be blacked out on bank accounts and sales records to ensure the utmost privacy.
The biggest challenge being faced by the drone delivery service is keeping the medication under the ideal temperature to preserve its efficacy. However, this wasn't an issue during the Broadstairs trial, and the pill was carried transported at temperatures below 77 degrees Fahrenheit or 25 degrees Celsius.
Now, MedExpress is waiting for regulatory approval from The General Pharmaceutical Council. Dwayne D'Souza, MedExpress managing director, remarked that it may take some time before their drone delivery services gain the approval they need to become operational, although the company hopes to launch them as soon as they can.
“The rise of artificial intelligence, along with autonomous delivery and other sophisticated technologies, provides ample opportunity for businesses such as MedExpress to trial a range of convenient customer service options,” D'Souza said.
He then added: “We were very pleased with how the trial went. We're considering making drone delivery part of our future service and are in talks to work out how we can do this. We're confident our customers will love the idea.”
However, not everyone is on board with the idea of drone-based medication deliveries.
Neal Patel, pharmacist and spokesman for the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, is one of those who are not too keen on that kind of delivery service, stating: “It needs to be safe for individuals who are accessing those medicines to make sure they get the right one. In our view it is better for people to access a local community pharmacy and have a face-to-face conversation with a pharmacist where they can get proper advice.” (Related: Drone-based pizza delivery service launched in Iceland… won’t the pizza get cold?)
Moreover, MedExpress could be facing some stiff competition from Amazon and Prime Air, the e-commerce company's very own drone delivery system. There has already been talk about Amazon getting into the pharmaceutical business, and the company has already begun selling medical equipment and supplies, so that might not be too far off.
Whichever way you slice it, drone-based deliveries will make it all the easier for people to get their hands on what are essentially abortion pills. Oral contraceptives or birth control pills are simply one of many birth control methods that can induce abortions.
The morning-after pill and all other oral contraceptives are hormonal contraceptives with a failure rate between one and five percent, meaning that there's still the risk of you becoming pregnant if you're sexually active. Moreover, hormonal contraceptives work by stopping ovulation and by thinning the lining of the uterus to prevent implantation. That means that a newly-conceived embryo will have nothing to keep it in the inhospitable womb, and will thus be expelled from the would-be-mother's body.
“Oh, no, it’s not theoretical. It’s observable. We know what an endometrium looks like when it’s rich and most receptive to the fertilized egg. When the woman is taking the Pill, you can clearly see the difference, based both on gross appearance – as seen with the naked eye – and under a microscope,” pharmacist Richard Hill said. “At the time when the endometrium would normally accept a fertilized egg, if a woman is taking the Pill, it is much less likely to do so.”
So yes, in essence this means that you can easily get abortion pills on demand. This is the kind of future we're living in, folks.
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