(Reuters) - Thermo Fisher Scientific ( TMO ) on Thursday beat Wall Street estimates for fourth-quarter profit and revenue, helped by improved demand for its products and services used in developing therapies.

Contract drug manufacturers witnessed reduced spending from biotech clients in the past two years, but recent interest rate cuts could improve the funding environment for biotechs as borrowing costs might ease.

However, some life sciences firms such as rival Danaher have indicated that despite the rate cuts smaller biotech clients are still cautious with their investments.

Earlier this week, Franco-German peer Sartorius reported preliminary annual results that beat expectations and posted a 23.1% rise in fourth-quarter orders for its key Bioprocess Solutions division, lifting shares of life sciences firms such as Thermo Fisher.

On an adjusted basis, Thermo Fisher earned a profit of $6.10 per share for the quarter ended Dec. 31, beating analysts' estimates of $5.94 per share, as per data compiled by LSEG.

The Waltham Massachusetts-based company's revenue rose 5% to 11.40 billion, ahead of estimates of $11.28 billion.

Sales at its laboratory products segment that provides products and services used in clinical trials and drug development, came in at $5.94 billion for the reported quarter, but fell short of estimates of $5.97 billion.

Revenue from that segment makes up more than half of Thermo Fisher's total sales.