Amazon Develops Flu Cure Research

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JAKARTA - Amazon is working on a project for the development of a cold medicine called 'Project Gesundheit'. This project is included in the development division of the Grand Challenge, which is part of the Amazon cloud, Amazon Web Service (AWS).

Reported by CNBC, the Grand Challenge is tasked with dealing with major humanitarian problems and finding solutions. This division is led by Babak Parviz who is also codenamed '1492'. Parviz previously worked at Alphabet, Google's parent company, later known as Google X.

The Grand Challenge does not only focus on health care, but the medical sector is the main focus for employees because it is a big problem. Health care in the US reaches 3.5 trillion US dollars.

Flu is a serious problem in the US. Each year, according to a 2003 Landmark study from the University of Michigan, medical costs for this disease reach $ 40 billion per year, both for doctor consultation fees and because of compromised worker productivity. The study found that colds that last a week miss 200 million school days, which also means parents have to be at home to look after their children.

However, the manufacture of cold medicine is considered difficult because there are so many viruses that cause the common cold. Not to mention, flu viruses mutate easily, meaning they can develop resistance to given drugs.

Amazon is working on a variety of company-wide wellness projects. It has a team called Amazon Care that is developing a virtual medical clinic for its employees that also offers home visiting nurses.

Amazon has focused on the medical industry as an area for business growth. The company bought online pharmaceutical startup PillPack in 2018, and announced plans to sell software that will read medical records.

In fact, Amazon's digital assistant Alexa, who is a voice assistant, has a group dedicated to health and wellness uses.