Thermo Fisher Scientific, already a big player in providing services to the biopharmaceutical industry, is adding to its technology capabilities with the $9 billion acquisition of clinical trial software company Clario.
Clinical trials generate vast amounts of data that must be analyzed before a pharmaceutical or biotech company decides how to proceed. These outcomes or events are called clinical trial endpoint data. Clario’s technology integrates these data from devices, clinical trial sites, and patients during drug development and after a product reaches the market. In the Oct. 29 announcement of the acquisition agreement, Waltham, Massachusetts-based Thermo Fisher said analysis of such data is important for making decisions about R&D pipelines, regulatory steps, and pricing and reimbursement.
Clario’s legacy of data gathering for clinical trials dates to the early 1970s and grew with M&A activity over the years. The current version of Clario was formed through the 2021 merger of ERT (formerly eResearch Technology) and Bioclinica, two private equity-owned clinical trial technology companies. 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 says it has about 4,000 employees at locations around the world and that its offerings have supported clinical trials leading to more than 700 regulatory approvals. For the full year 2025, Clario estimates its revenue will be about $1.25 billion. The company did not say whether it is profitable.
Thermo Fisher’s main presence in clinical trial services is through PPD, the contract research organization (CRO) it acquired four years ago for $21 billion. It also provides contract manufacturing through Patheon, which it acquired in 2017. The investment bank William Blair views the Clario deal as “a home run acquisition” that further solidifies Thermo Fisher’s position as the partner of choice for the biopharma industry. In a note sent to investors, William Blair said Clario’s offerings are highly complementary to Thermo Fisher’s pharma services, particularly the CRO business. The firm’s analysts expect Thermo Fisher will 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 relative to other leading CROs, creating a significant opportunity for Thermo to cross-sell its CRO services and Clario’s endpoint data solutions to new and existing biopharma sponsors,” the analysts said in the note.
Clario will become part of Laboratory Products and Biopharma Services, the largest of Thermo Fisher’s four business segments measured by revenue with $23.1 billion in sales last year. This division provides products and services for laboratories as well as outsourced services that pharma and biotech companies use in drug development and clinical trials. The last big M&A deal for this segment was the 2023 acquisition of CorEvitas, a company that collects real-world data about the safety and efficacy of drugs.
Thermo Fisher and Clario expect to complete the transaction in mid-2026. The financial terms of the deal break down to $8.875 billion in cash to be paid at deal closing. Thermo Fisher said it will fund the deal with debt financing and cash on hand. The company will pay Clario’s shareholders an additional $125 million in January 2027. Up to $400 million more could be paid out if Clario achieves performance-based milestones in 2026 and 2027.
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