(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 purification and filtration business for about $4.1 billion to expand in bioprocessing.

(Reporting by Christy Santhosh and Siddhi Mahatole in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)