A subsidiary of United Therapeutics ($UTHR) has placed an order for up to 1,000 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from Chinese manufacturer EHang. The plan is to use the UAVs, flying vehicles more commonly known as drones, to ship manufactured lungs and other organs from production facilities to hospitals for transplantation.
Many stumbling blocks stand between the United Therapeutics subsidiary, Lung Biotechnology PBC, and the realization of this vision, but the company has seen enough potential to justify committing time and resources to the idea. Lung Biotechnology plans to spend 15 years working to turn the idea into reality with EHang, a Chinese drone developer that unveiled a prototype of an autonomous helicopter in January. The partners plan to rework that prototype, which was designed to carry one passenger, to ferry organs between locations without the active control of a human.
Image: http://www.fiercebiotech.com/
