Thermo Fisher Scientific plans to drive share gain, execute mergers and acquisitions (M&As), and benefit from a gap in the sterile fill-finish market due to Catalent’s recent acquisition by Novo Holdings, said CEO Marc N. Casper at the JP Morgan Healthcare conference on January 14, 2025.
In a presentation at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference 2025, taking place January 13-16 in San Francisco, Casper highlighted that the company earned $42bn in revenue (Q3 2024 LTM), serving a $235bn market with a long-term growth of 4–6%, effectively outperforming its peers despite a declining market.
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Catalent’s acquisition by Novo Holdings, to help Novo Nordisk meet manufacturing demand for glucagon-like peptide (GLP)-1 obesity medicines, has taken sterile fill-finish capacity out of the market, Casper said. “So from our lens, as the market leader in sterile fill-finish, which is our competitive position, it takes an option off the table, which I think is ultimately very positive for us. And we’ve seen strong demand for that set of capabilities.”
When asked about the potential impact of the new Trump administration on Thermo Fisher and the broader pharmaceutical industry, Casper states that there will be focus on a pro-growth business environment from a taxation perspective, including a better M&A landscape from a regulatory standpoint. The Thermo Fisher President and CEO remained confident that the company would be well positioned to navigate changes in tariffs as effectively or more effectively than its competitors and to help its customers do the same, given its global footprint.
Regardless of whether or not the US Biosecure Act passes, the dialogue surrounding it will continue, according to Casper, while more of the manufacturing work moves to Western-based facilities and some facilities in India. Despite disruptions to customers, Thermo Fisher is well-equipped to handle changes resulting from the BioSecure Act, he said.
China, where the company has local operations, is Thermo Fisher’s second largest market, generating 8% of its revenue, and is a meaningful end market for its analytical business. In 2024, Thermo Fisher’s analytical business had a great year in terms of differentiated growth and a strong market share, said Casper, suggesting the company remains well-positioned despite geopolitical headwinds in China.
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By GlobalDataThe company also closed the acquisition of Olink, a protein biomarker company, in Q3 2024. “It was great to win for the largest human proteomics study that’s going on, which is sponsored by the UK Biobank and the pharmaceutical industry…” Casper commented. “That really continues to validate that Olink is the platform for that area of research…That positions us really well, so we’re excited to be able to do that and solidify our industry leadership,” said Casper.
As a result of its investment into artificial intelligence (AI), Thermo Fisher has reported a 20% increase in lead time improvement in its laboratory products business for supply chain and a 30% increase in effective capacity at major pharma services and bioproduction sites for manufacturing operations.
To emphasise the company’s strong position, Casper also highlighted that the company deployed $4bn dollars on share buybacks, including $1bn in Q4 2024, and returned $600m to their shareholders from dividend increases.
The CEO also highlighted the company’s progress on corporate social responsibility. “Since our baseline, we’ve reduced [Scope 1 and 2 emissions] by 30%, and we’re well on the way to achieve a 50% reduction [by 2030]. [Today], 44% of our energy or electricity comes from renewable sources, and we’ll achieve 80% [renewable electricity globally] by the end of this decade, if not higher,” notes Casper. According to GlobalData’s Job Analytics platform, environment was the top theme in hiring trends by Thermo Fisher for the past eight months.
Casper ended on a confident note, stating that the company is poised for recovery and growth in 2025 and beyond, with strong confidence in its ability to convert top-line results into robust earnings. “We have proven our ability to grow faster than the market through all types of market conditions. You can look at us versus the peers [during] high growth periods, the pandemic, post-pandemic, all these different things – and it’s very consistent. So, our confidence as the industry leader to be able to grow meaningfully faster than the market is extraordinarily high.”
Note: The order of paragraphs in this article was updated following editorial input on 15 January. The headline and third paragraph were updated to add more context on the impact of Novo Holdings’ acquisition of Catalent.
