Oct 29 (Reuters) - Thermo Fisher said on

Wednesday it would buy privately held data management company

Clario for up to $9.4 billion in cash and future payments,

strengthening the life science firm's presence in digital health

and clinical trial research.

The deal includes an upfront payment of about $8.88 billion,

in addition to $125 million in January 2027 and up to $400

million of earn-out payments based on the performance of

Clario's business in 2026 and 2027.

Clario, a software provider for drugmakers, was founded in

2021 following the merger of health tech firms ERT and

Bioclinica.

This marks Thermo Fisher's third major acquisition this

year, as the company expands its portfolio amid renewed demand

from pharmaceutical firms ramping up drug development and

manufacturing in the U.S.

The company said it has benefited from recent deals such as

the purchase of Sanofi's New Jersey facility to produce critical

medicines and Solventum's ( SOLV ) purification and filtration

business for about $4.1 billion to expand in bioprocessing.