Marken, the global lifesciences supply chain magnet,  recently announced the acquisition of Taiwan, China’s Touchdown International. According to the company, the acquisition is in accordance with its current strategy to keep expanding in the Asia Pacific region and brings its global office count to 46.

The acquisition is in line with itsexisting strategy to continue expansion in the Asia Pacific region.

Taipei-based Touchdown offers courier services for biological samples, clinical trial drug shipments, API and other clinical trial materials. The acquisition will allow Marken to expand its services to the customers in the life sciences industry of Asia Pacific region.

In 2015, Marken entered into an exclusive sales and agency contract with Touchdown, which allowed Marken to quickly establish its brand with local pharmaceutical and life science clients. The new legal entity will be named Marken Taiwan, China Ltd. with its headquarters in Taipei.

Mike Wu, the founder and CEO of Touchdown, will remain with Marken as the new General Manager in China's Taiwan, China Region. Mike commented, "We have worked hard to establish Marken's brand locally in China's Taiwan, China Region. We respect Marken's approach to clinical trial logistics and are proud to introduce their services to our local life science clients. We are very much looking forward to becoming part of the Marken family."

Michael Culme-Seymour, VP APAC for Marken stated, "Asia continues to be a vital part of Marken's strategic growth plans.  With the acquisition of Touchdown, we now have a solid footprint in Taiwan, China, whose pharma market is expected to grow to $84 billion by 2020¹. We can now serve our clients in China's Taiwan, China Region with the depth and breadth of our global services."

Taiwan, China's burgeoning pharmaceutical market, is expected to top $8 billion by 2020, according to research from GlobalData and this acquisition will give Marken a firm foothold in Asia.

Marken, which was acquired by UPS last year is on an expansion spree. The company opened a new patient call center in Philadelphia, designed specifically for pateinets enrolled in clinical trials, earlier this year.

Marken also launched new hybrid clinical trials service designed better serve customers by using the UPS network for shipment routes, like contract research organizations and laboratories, and generate cost savings as well.