Thermo Fisher agrees to sell microbiology business to Astorg in $1bn deal
Thermo Fisher has agreed to sell its microbiology business in a deal worth more than $1bn to private equity firm Astorg, signaling the life sciences’ continued move away from in vitro diagnostics (IVD) to strengthen its biopharma presence.
Thermo Fisher expects the deal to close in H2 2026 and intends to provide details on its impact on the company’s 2026 outlook during the Q2 earnings call.
“This transaction demonstrates our effective management of the company and provides additional capital that we can use to build shareholder value,” said Thermo Fisher CEO Marc N. Casper.
Astorg said it will work closely with management to develop the business, aiming to accelerate growth and improve performance.
Thermo Fisher’s Microbiology business is set to generate $645m in revenue by 2025 and is part of the company’s specialty diagnostics business segment. The business has approximately 2,400 employees, and 13 manufacturing and R&D locations worldwide.
Despite this healthy revenue generation, Thermo Fisher’s planned division of the business reflects its pivot to the IVD space, Dr. Andrew S Thompson, director of medical research and analysis of medical devices for GlobalData told. Medical Device Network.
According to Thompson, the IVD space is “evolutionary”, with microbiology the traditional IVD space “may become ineffective as new technologies replace the need for culture bacteria and pathogens for pathological investigation”.
Thompson continued: “There will always be a need for research facilities, but there are other methods, such as within mass spectrometry, that can replace this method of understanding the microbial phenotype.”
Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD) is making a similar move to reduce its diagnostics business portfolio by selling its $17.5 billion Biosciences & Diagnostic Solutions business to Waters Corporation in July 2025.
Thermo Fisher’s exit from the microbiology business follows its $4.1bn acquisition of Solventum’s purification and filtration unit in February 2025. Thompson notes that the deal has “reinforced” the company’s interest in biopharma. Thermo Fisher also acquired clinical trial services provider Clario in an $8.8bn deal in October 2025.
“Thermo Fisher is positioning itself very much in biopharma, almost as a service provider, in a way, along with the traditional business model,” Thompson said.
The IVD space also represents an increasing level of regulatory challenges, with the European Union’s (EU) in vitro diagnostics regulation (IVDR) having a difficult time being rolled out in Europe. According to Thompson, this could represent another factor in Thermo Fisher’s decision to sell its microbiology business.
Speaking at the MEDICA meeting in Germany in November 2025, Dr. Sascha Wettmarshausen, head of regulatory affairs and quality at the German trade association Verband der Diagnostica-Industrie (VDGH), highlighted that the continued delay in the use of IVDR has a major drag on the establishment of IVD in Europe.
“Thermo Fisher agrees to sell microbiology business to Astorg in $1bn deal” was originally published by Medical Device Network, a product owned by GlobalData.
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