Thermo Fisher wins contracts as pharma shifts production to US, CEO says
By Sneha S K and Gnaneshwar Rajan
Jan 13 (Reuters) - Thermo Fisher Scientific's pharmaceutical services business has won a number of contracts to help its customers move production from Europe or Asia to the U.S., the medical equipment maker's CEO, Marc Casper, said on Tuesday.
"There's a very big focus on reshoring more production and activity to the U.S.," Casper said at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, adding that the trend is going to be a tailwind in 2027 and 2028.
U.S. President Donald Trump has pushed pharma companies to onshore domestic manufacturing to the U.S.
Although enforcement of a proposed 100% tariff on imported medicines is delayed, the policy has already prompted fast-tracked projects, price cuts and direct-to-consumer sales.
Thermo last year acquired Sanofi's manufacturing site in Ridgefield, New Jersey, to produce critical medicines for the French drugmaker.
"Part of the reason we acquired the Sanofi site was really a capital expansion, to be able to help customers do that (reshore)," Casper said.
He also said that biotech funding is improving. "The pharmaceutical industry feels very confident about how they are working with the U.S. administration, and there's confidence in investing in their pipeline ... So actually we see an improving set of end markets."
Overall, Thermo Fisher's messaging was constructive and the company did a fine job expressing optimism without raising the bar for 2026, said Evercore ISI analyst Vijay Kumar.
(Reporting by Gnaneshwar Rajan and Sneha S K in Bengaluru; Editing by Sahal Muhammed)