ZS, an Evanston, Ill.-based sales and marketing firm, opened an office in Singapore in late August in response to the growing number of pharmaceutical companies setting up regional headquarters in the region.

The new Singapore office, one of five ZS offices in Asia, is led by Mazen Zahlan, a principal at ZS who previously worked in the company’s office in Princeton, NJ. The office is equipped to service clients across other sectors, a spokesman for ZS said in an email. However, Zahlan’s work at ZS has focused solely on the healthcare and life sciences industry.

“Singapore has become a hotbed for multinational healthcare companies, and we’ve helped many of these firms—and their affiliates—address unique sales and marketing challenges for several years now,” ZS Managing Director Chris Wright said in a news release.

Publicis Healthcare also recently announced plans to open a healthcare division in Singapore, with Sharon Tan taking on the role of general manager. Tan was most recently with Publicis Singapore, where she worked with Sanofi, one of the agency’s pharmaceutical clients.

Seven out of 10 of the largest global pharmaceutical companies have set up manufacturing facilities in Singapore, according to the Singapore Economic Development Board. AbbVie is one example. The drugmaker announced in early 2014 that it would spend $320 million to build a manufacturing site in Singapore, its first manufacturing facility in Asia. Actavis also opened regional headquarters in the city in 2014.

Asia’s increasingly affluent, and aging, population is driving demand for new drugs, the board said on its website. Additionally, there are at least nine facilities that manufacture biologics in Singapore.