European Commission clears $8.875 billion acquisition of Clario by Thermo Fisher Scientific

Compass Lexecon advised Thermo Fisher Scientific (‘Thermo Fisher’) during the European Commission (‘EC’)’s review of Thermo Fisher’s acquisition of Clario Holdings. The deal combines Clario’s endpoint data solutions for clinical trials with Thermo Fisher’s expertise in the life sciences sector. The EC approved the transaction unconditionally in March 2026.

Situation

Thermo Fisher, a global manufacturer and supplier of life sciences products, announced its definitive agreement to acquire Clario Holdings, a provider of endpoint data solutions for clinical trials, in October 2025. Clinical trial endpoint data relates to the measurement of specific outcomes to determine whether a treatment or intervention being studied in a clinical trial is effective and safe. Pharma and biotech customers depend on this data to evaluate therapeutic safety, efficacy, and value - both during drug development and after approval. 

Our role

A team from Compass Lexecon was retained to provide economic support for the regulatory approval of the transaction. We assisted with data and substantive analyses throughout the European Commission’s investigation, as well as in preparing notifications in other jurisdictions.

Outcome

The European Commission approved the transaction (case M.12264) under Article 6(1)(b) of the EU Merger Regulation in March 2026, concluding that the transaction would not raise competition concerns. In particular, the EC noted that the merged entity would not be able to foreclose any competitors.

The team

The Compass Lexecon team was led by Lorenzo Coppi and Cecilia Nardini, and included Marta Adembri, Giacomo Capodaglio, Julian Alves, Irache Vergara Ochoa, Sara Izquierdo, and Jude Tinkler-Davies. They worked with Thermo Fisher’s regulatory counsel: a team from Freshfields (led by partners Tone Oeyen and Colin Raftery) and a team from Axinn, Veltrop & Harkrider (led by partner John Harkrider).