Texas Pharmacy Board reopens drone-delivery rule after debate on cold‑chain, delivery locations and provider responsibility

The Texas State Board of Pharmacy spent extensive time debating an amendment to its prescription delivery rules that would explicitly allow pharmacies to use unmanned aircraft systems (UAS or drones) to deliver certain prescription drugs.

The board considered language that would allow a pharmacy to deliver prescription drugs "by use of unmanned aircraft systems, i.e., drones, at the request of a patient or patient's agent" but— as drafted—would exclude controlled substances, sterile compounded preparations and "drugs requiring storage below a cool temperature as defined by 291.15 of this title." The issue drew public comment from health systems and drone providers and prompted repeated questions from board members about who should verify a patient’s presence and where goods may be delivered.

Board members heard support and suggested edits from hospital and vendor representatives. Freddy Warner, chief government relations officer for Memorial Hermann Health System, said his system has pursued drone partnerships to expand access and lower costs and introduced Benita Patel, vice president of pharmacy services, to explain the system's suggestions. Patel told the board, "It helps with the helps us with access affordability and adherence to medications," and urged removal of the exclusion for drugs requiring cold storage so hospitals could use UAS for more medications. Zipline representatives also supported the rule as drafted while asking three specific refinements: shift the responsibility to confirm a recipient's presence to the UAS operator when appropriate, allow pharmacist discretion to deliver certain cold‑chain products, and broaden approved delivery locations beyond patients' homes. Kala Patel, Zipline general counsel, said, "Zipline is fully supportive of the proposed rule" and described Zipline's delivery performance, adding that "the max time for a drone delivery, for Zipline is 10 minutes" and that many flights average around three and a half minutes.

Board members questioned how to balance patient safety, chain‑of‑custody and practical delivery locations. Jenny Yocom pressed staff for a technical clarification on temperature thresholds, asking, "So it would be anything less than 36 degrees Fahrenheit or 2 degrees Celsius. Correct?" Staff confirmed that the phrase "below a cool temperature" was drafted to mean temperatures below the cool threshold defined in rule 291.15. Board members debated replacing the residence‑only delivery restriction with a broader "selected delivery location" approach. One board member summarized a compromise motion to allow delivery to a "selected delivery location mutually agreed upon by the pharmacist and the patient using the pharmacist's professional judgment." After discussion the board voted to change the pending final adoption to a proposed rule so that the new location language and temperature changes could be circulated for public comment.

The board also directed staff to remove the specific exclusion for drugs requiring storage "below a cool temperature" and to add temperature‑maintenance and packaging standards from the general delivery requirements into the UAS‑specific subsection (so temperature‑control methods such as insulated packaging, ice packs, or time‑temperature indicators would be required where appropriate). That motion — to strike the exclusion and carry the temperature‑control requirements into the drone delivery subsection and return the item to proposed status — passed on board vote.

What happens next: the board will circulate the revised proposed rule for public comment and return the item for a future meeting. The transcript shows the board received detailed operational testimony from multiple stakeholders, and the staff will draft the agreed language for a subsequent proposal and a new public‑comment period.

Quoted testimony in this report is taken directly from the board transcript and attributed to speakers who identified their names and roles for the record.