It seems like a strange thing for a delivery company to do, but shipper UPS has acquired a manufacturing pharmacy license from Georgia's Board of Pharmacy that enables the company to not only ship pharmaceuticals, but to relabel them.

CNBC reports that UPS has confirmed that it obtained the license "to provide services related to new and potential business engagements." A company spokesperson is cited saying in the report that not only would the new license would "effectively give the shipping company more flexibility in handling the product," but that the action was part of "standard operating procedure" in order to remain compliant with federal law. The new license could also be required if UPS wanted to add an insert to a shipping package, the spokesperson said.

"If you're Merck and you've got all this product, you need someone to kind of manage that," Stephen Buck, a drug supply chain expert and cofounder of Courage Health, is quoted saying in the report. Drugmakers may be contacting the shipper and "saying 'we do production, but we don't want to have to worry about supply chain management.'"