Innovation in Biological Samples Transportation: Cerba HealthCare Successfully Performed the First Flight With Drone in France and Italy

• A low-carbon logistic option that should avoid traffic-related delays while covering remoted places in the country
• Shortens time-to-results and improves patient management regardless of location

ISSY LES MOULINEAUX, France--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cerba HealthCare, a leading global player in medical diagnosis, has been exploring new alternatives to transport biological samples that combine low carbon footprint, shorter time-to-results for patients and prescribers while allowing every patient to benefit from the analytical quality of large capacity laboratory platforms in a timely manner.

Over the past couple of weeks, France and Italy, two major affiliates of the Group, hosted drone-enabled sample transport and successfully performed their experimental flights in different conditions.

Jérôme Sallette, Chief Scientific Officer at Cerba HealthCare, comments: “Following the use cases we described in our white paper, the drone flight we experimented in Normandy with Cerballiance is a first step toward a broader and more sustainable approach of our logistic mix for sample transportation. It illustrates the long-standing drive for innovation within the Group and by 2024, we plan to identify how drones will prove an efficient complementary way of carrying biological samples”.

“Last week Cerba HealthCare Italia performed the first drone flight with biological samples embedded, involving some of the medical centers around the Metropolitan City of Milan, specifically in the two sites located in the cities of Opera and Rozzano” adds Stefano Massaro, Chief Executive Officer of Cerba HealthCare Italia. “We are dealing with the first air transport of blood samples not yet tested, experimented by the use of a drone. The result of this adventure today makes us confident and eager to pursue the path of innovation as a landmark of a leading quality service for patients”.

• To access the French flight video: https://youtu.be/rjy0e1kMluM
• To access the Italian flight video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wOCDJipasc
• To access the white paper: https://www.cerbahealthcare.com/en/drones-medical-logistics-opportunities-and-challenges

About Cerba HealthCare

Cerba HealthCare, a leading global player in medical diagnostics, aims to support the evolution of health systems towards more prevention. It draws on more than 50 years of expertise in clinical pathology to better assess the risk of diseases development, detect and diagnose diseases earlier, and optimize the effectiveness of personalized medicine.

Every day, on five continents, the Group's 15,000 employees sustain the transformation of medicine, driven by one deep conviction: to advance diagnosis is to advance health.

Cerba HealthCare, enlightening health.

Additional information is available at www.cerbahealthcare.com