Thermo Fisher acquires clinical trial software company Clario for $9 billion to expand biopharmaceutical offerings
Thermo Fisher Scientific, already a major player serving the biopharmaceutical industry, is bolstering its technology capabilities with its $9 billion acquisition of clinical trial software company Clario.
Clinical trials generate large amounts of data that a pharmaceutical or biotech company must analyze before deciding how to proceed. These results or events are called clinical trial endpoint data. Clario's technology integrates this data from devices, clinical trial sites and patients during drug development and after the product is launched. Waltham, Mass.-based Thermo Fisher said in the acquisition agreement announced on Oct. 29 that analysis of such data is important for making decisions about the development pipeline, regulatory steps, and pricing and reimbursement.
Clario's history of clinical trial data collection dates back to the early 1970s and has continued to evolve with acquisition activity over the years. The current version of Clario was formed in 2021 from the merger of two private equity-owned clinical trial technology companies, ERT (formerly eResearch Technology) and Bioclinica. Financial terms of the merger were not disclosed.
Clario is owned by a shareholder group led by Astorg, Nordic Capital, Novo Holding and Cinven. The company said it has about 4,000 employees around the world, its products support clinical trials and has received more than 700 regulatory approvals. Clario expects full-year 2025 revenue to be approximately $1.25 billion. The company did not disclose whether it was profitable.
Thermo Fisher's main presence in clinical trial services is through PPD, a contract research organization (CRO) the company acquired four years ago for $21 billion. It also provides contract manufacturing through Patheon, which it acquired in 2017. Investment banker William Blair viewed the Clario deal as “a home run acquisition” that further solidifies Thermo Fisher's position as the biopharmaceutical industry's preferred partner. William Blair said in a note to investors that Clario's products are highly complementary to Thermo Fisher's pharmaceutical services, especially its CRO business. The company's analysts expect Thermo Fisher to leverage its existing business relationships to drive adoption of Clario's products and services.
“Thermo's acquisition of Clario provides it with a more comprehensive endpoint data solutions platform than other leading CROs, creating significant opportunities for Thermo to cross-sell its CRO services and Clario's endpoint data solutions to new and existing biopharmaceutical sponsors,” analysts said in the report.
Clario will become part of the Laboratory Products and Biopharmaceutical Services segment, the largest of Thermo Fisher's four business units (measured by revenue, with sales of $23.1 billion last year). This segment provides products and services to laboratories and outsourced services used by pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in drug development and clinical trials. The last major M&A deal in this space was the 2023 acquisition of CorEvitas, a company that collects real-world data on drug safety and effectiveness.
Thermo Fisher and Clario expect to close the transaction in mid-2026. Financial terms of the deal break down to $8.875 billion in cash to be paid at closing. Thermo Fisher said it will fund the deal through debt financing and cash on hand. The company will pay an additional $125 million to Clario shareholders in January 2027. Clario could be paid up to an additional $400 million if it achieves performance-based milestones in 2026 and 2027.
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