Uber Health donates rides to encourage plasma donation and continue to help move what matters

Uber Health was created because we believe that lack of access to transportation shouldn’t prevent people from getting the care they need. Since launching in 2018, we’ve partnered with over 1,000 healthcare organizations across the country to help patients and healthcare workers get where they need to go quickly and easily. But in the midst of the current pandemic, the country’s needs look a little different than they did just a few months ago. That’s why Uber Health continues to explore new ways to connect people with the care, services, and products they need, and why Uber pledged 10 million free rides and deliveries to help move what matters.

There are people and organizations working around the clock to help develop potentially effective treatments for COVID-19. One of the potential treatments currently being researched requires donated plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients, but lack of access to transportation can be a barrier for patients looking to donate. Uber Health’s HIPAA-secure platform and robust logistics network can be especially critical in helping to get these eligible donors to and from their nearest plasma collection centers.

Today, Uber Health is proud to partner with the CoVIg-19 Plasma Alliance, formed by biopharmaceutical companies Takeda, CSL Behring, Biotest, BPL, LFB, and Octapharma, to contribute Uber rides to and from plasma collection centers for those who are potentially eligible to donate. Our hope is that this will help the Alliance accelerate the development of CoVIg-19, a COVID-19 hyperimmune globulin therapy. As part of Uber’s broader commitment to help move what matters, Uber Health will be contributing 25,000 free, roundtrip rides to support this initiative. These rides will be coordinated by the plasma collection center directly for individuals with confirmed appointments.

The CoVIg-19 Plasma Alliance brings together more than 500 plasma donation centers in the U.S. alone. Now with Uber Health, these organizations will be able to coordinate free rides with Uber for recovered COVID-19 patients looking to donate plasma and support the broader search for the development of a potential COVID-19 therapy.

“We are living through extraordinary times, and our greatest strength lies in working together. We’ve worked together to stay home, to support front-line workers and local businesses, and now, we need to work together to find an effective treatment for COVID-19,” says Julie Kim, President, Plasma-Derived Therapies Business Unit and co-chair for the Alliance. “Uber Health’s contribution of 25,000 roundtrip rides will make getting to and from plasma donation centers easier and cost-free for those inspired and confirmed as potentially eligible to donate. The Alliance is pleased to partner with Uber Health to support donors in this way and believe that this will directly enable us to advance our program more quickly.” 

Organizations around the globe are joining together to take on COVID-19, whether that be through PPE donations, ventilator manufacturing, supply chain management, treatment research, or otherwise. There is an immense opportunity for collaboration and innovation – taking stock of existing structures and repurposing them for the current need. COVID-19 is an unprecedented challenge, and the CoVIg-19 Plasma Alliance is an unprecedented partnership of the world’s leading plasma companies, spanning plasma collection, development, production, and distribution. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is providing advisory support, and Microsoft is providing technology including the Alliance website and the CoVIg-19 Bot for donor recruitment. 

Uber Health is proud to support the CoVIg-19 Plasma Alliance as they work towards a potential treatment for COVID-19. If you or someone you know has recovered from COVID-19, please visit the Alliance website to learn more.