London-based pathology provider Synnovis is to expand its use of drones in the capital to transport urgent samples from both Guy’s Hospital and St Thomas’ Hospital to its Blackfriars laboratory hub.
Synnovis partnered with medical logistics firm Apian in 2024, for a successful trial, which saw over 6,000 pathology samples transferred by drone between the Synnovis laboratories at Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospitals, in south east London
Now a new strategic partnership has been agreed to further develop the use of drones and autonomous robotics in pathology logistics. It aims to improve the speed, resilience and cost effectiveness of sample delivery to better support our customers and partners.
This autumn, Synnovis will expand its use of drone logistics with Apian deploying Matternet drones to service specialist testing at the Synnovis Blackfriars laboratory hub. The first of these flights will carry bone marrow samples critical for the diagnosis and monitoring of blood disorders such as acute leukaemia, including for paediatric patients treated at Evelina London Children’s Hospital. The enhanced speed of sample delivery will allow scientists across Synnovis, one of SYNLAB UK & Ireland’s four NHS partnerships, to provide results more quickly and support well-informed patient care.
This expanded drone delivery service includes new use cases and represents a significant milestone in autonomous logistics, with plans for routes to serve additional Synnovis customers underway.
Professor Dominic Harrington, Chief Scientific Officer, SYNLAB UK & Ireland, said: “Our scientists perform cutting-edge medical diagnostics every day. Working with Apian to implement drone delivery allows us to extend innovation beyond the laboratory and into the entire sample pathway. Our Blackfriars hub analyses 20,000 samples each day, and each one of those samples represents a patient. Efficient logistics are key to enabling us to provide a successful service for every patient we serve. Extending our drone network will help us ensure we get the right samples, to the right place, at the right time to support clinicians and their patients when they need it most. This partnership with Apian puts us at the forefront of pathology logistics.”
Mark Dollar, CEO, SYNLAB UK & Ireland added: “This partnership builds on several years of collaboration with Apian, including on this pioneering medical drone project, and marks an important milestone. It represents a strategic investment which will allow us to explore innovation opportunities in robotics, AI and autonomous logistics across both Synnovis and the wider SYNLAB Group.”