UPS to Acquire Marken

On Nov. 7, 2016, UPS announced that it will be acquiring Marken, a global provider of supply-chain solutions for the life-sciences industry. The companies entered into a definitive purchase agreement, which is expected to close by Dec. 31, 2016. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

In a statement, Teresa Finley, chief marketing and business services officer, at UPS said that the acquisition of Marken fit well with the company’s long-term growth plans in biopharma. “Healthcare logistics is a strategic market for UPS. Our acquisition of Marken strengthens our portfolio and demonstrates our commitment to customers,” said Finley.

Marken will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of UPS. UPS now has more than 100 healthcare dedicated facilities with 60 GMP-compliant locations globally. John Menna, vice-president of marketing, healthcare logistics at UPS, told Pharmaceutical Technology, "Marken will continue to operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of UPS and continue to provide world-class service to its customers. As such, we expect integration to be minimal." Wes Wheeler, CEO of Marken, will continue to lead the clinical trial logistics company.

"With a clear focus on patient centric supply chain solutions, we expect to define opportunities which will allow us to further broaden our services to support our growth strategy," Wheeler said in an emailed statement. "This may include everything from traditional distribution and transportation of clinical specimens, drugs, and supplies to the scale up of innovative supply chain solutions for cell and gene therapies and direct to patient trials."

Source: UPS