Thermo Fisher’s $9.4 Billion Clario Deal Aims to Make Clinical Trials Faster and More Reliable

Thermo Fisher is acquiring clinical-trial data firm Clario in a deal worth up to $9.4 billion, one of 2025’s largest digital-health transactions. The purchase folds an expected ~$1.25 billion in 2025 revenue into Thermo’s platform and accelerates the shift from point tools to integrated software that shortens timelines and de-risks endpoints for sponsors.

The structure is numbers-first: $8.88 billion cash at close, $125 million payable in January 2027, and up to $400 million in performance earn-outs tied to 2026–2027 results, bringing the headline to $9.4 billion. Thermo Fisher guides Clario at ~$1.25 billion revenue in 2025 and says the deal will be immediately accretive to adjusted EPS by about $0.45 in the first year after close. Clario, created in 2021 via the ERT–Bioclinica merger, provides eCOA, medical-imaging reads, and device/wearables data capture used in tens of thousands of trials. Closing is targeted for early–mid 2026.

Sponsors are consolidating vendors as trials get larger, more decentralized, and heavier on imaging and real-world signals. Thermo Fisher has been building an end-to-end stack since buying PPD for $17.4 billion in 2021. Private-equity owners Nordic Capital and Astorg exit after scaling Clario’s footprint; the Financial Times reports Clario software has supported ~26,000 trials and contributed to ~70% of U.S. approvals—an installed base that explains the premium.

This isn’t just another health-IT roll-up. Writing an $8.88 billion check (with $9.4 billion potential) for a trials-data specialist signals where value is migrating: platforms that unify eCOA + imaging + device streams and speed readouts. Expect more PE exits and strategic bids for assets sitting on validated, regulator-grade datasets—and more pressure on point-solution vendors to find a suite.