Marken, a critical part of UPS Healthcare, has reached agreement to purchase the medical courier business of Cedra Express, a New Zealand-based transportation and logistics provider serving the life science and pharmaceutical segment. This acquisition will enhance Marken as a clinical trial and cell and gene logistics provider in the region.

“With this new direct presence in New Zealand, Marken will become more agile and provide more expansive offerings to the local clinical trial client base, including our patient-centric solutions such as Home Healthcare and Direct to/from Patient services,” said Marken President Ariette van Strien.

The acquisition aligns with UPS Healthcare and Marken’s global growth strategy, enhancing our presence in this region, and will allow us to further expand our service offerings.

The medical courier business of Cedra Express will now become Marken New Zealand, with operations in Christchurch and Auckland. Marken has had a strategic partnership with Cedra Express since it was founded in 2001 by Graham Tappin, who will support this exciting transition for Marken in New Zealand.

“We are glad to have reached agreement to acquire this business in New Zealand, which will help position Marken as the preferred partner for innovative clinical trial and cell and gene supply chain logistics solutions throughout the biopharma and healthcare landscape,” said Wes Wheeler, President UPS Healthcare. “We welcome the expertise and capabilities this brings to UPS Healthcare and Marken, which will help serve customers’ complex, global needs and we thank Graham for the years of dedicated support to Marken and customers across New Zealand.”

Customers in the region will continue to benefit from Marken’s world-class real-time tracking with GPS technology, specialized packaging solutions, temperature monitoring and end-to-end visibility.

ABOUT MARKEN

Marken is a wholly owned subsidiary of UPS and is a critical part of UPS Healthcare. With Polar Speed and Marken included, the UPS Healthcare division staffs 128 locations with 5,500 employees worldwide. Marken offers a state-of-the-art GMP-compliant depot network and logistic hubs for clinical drug product storage and distribution in 55 locations worldwide, while maintaining the leading position for Direct-to-Patient and Home Healthcare services, biological sample shipments and biological kit production. Marken’s dedicated 2,400 staff members manage over 150,000 drug product and biological sample shipments every month at all temperature ranges in more than 220 countries and territories and have orchestrated 11,500+ home healthcare visits. Additional services such as cell and gene supply chain services, ancillary material sourcing, storage and distribution, shipment lane verification and qualifications, as well as GDP, regulatory and compliance consultancy add to Marken’s unique position in the pharma and logistics industry.