For the third quarter 2015, Thermo Fisher reported total sales across its divisions of $4.1bn (€3.7bn), slightly down on the same period last year. This was attributed to drops in its analytical instruments and specialty diagnostics business, as sales from the firm’s life sciences solutions business grew a percent to $1.08bn.
During a call to discuss results, CEO Marc Casper said Thermo Fisher was well positioned to benefit from the 10% growth in the biopharma market.
“The market is a little better than what it has been, say, in the previous few years, primarily because drugs are getting through the FDA process and getting approved,” he told investors.
“So the customers are getting a return on their R&D investments and they're spending money, and we are really well positioned with this customer set.”
But while the firm is seeing increased revenues coming from the big biopharma players, one sector the company has far from ignored is the small, start-up biotechs, he continued, and though initial contracts are low, they often bloom into significant spends.
“Even if the spend might be pre-IPO, it might be $1m or $2m with a decent-sized startup, over time, those spends really can grow with the ones that have product developments making it through the pipeline,” he said.
“We're doing a really good job of leveraging our capabilities there. So we think that in terms of biotech, as they convert their cash into products moving through the pipeline, we'll be one of the beneficiaries of that.”