Profile: Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (TMO)

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (Thermo Fisher), incorporated in 1956, is engaged in serving science. It provides analytical instruments, equipment, reagents and consumables, software and services for research, manufacturing, analysis, discovery and diagnostics. The Company operates through two segments: analytical technologies and laboratory products and services. Analytical technologies segment includes pharmaceutical, biotechnology, academic, government and other research and industrial markets. Laboratory products and services segment offers combination of products and services that allows its customers to engage in their core business functions of research, development, manufacturing, clinical diagnosis and drug discovery. During 2008, the Analytical Technologies segment acquired the intellectual property of an immunohistochemistry control slide business a manufacturer and distributor of analytical instruments serving the life sciences and environmental industries. In April 2009, Alesco Corporation Ltd. sold its Scientific & Medical division to Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. In October 2009, the Company acquired B.R.A.H.M.S. AG.

The Company operates through two brands: Thermo Scientific and Fisher Scientific. Thermo Scientific offers a range of high-end analytical instruments, as well as laboratory equipment, software, services, consumables and reagents to enable integrated laboratory workflow solutions. Its portfolio of products includes technologies for mass spectrometry, elemental analysis, molecular spectroscopy, sample preparation, informatics, fine- and high-purity chemistry production, cell culture, protein analysis, ribonucleic acid (RNA) -interference techniques, immunodiagnostic testing, microbiology, as well as environmental monitoring and process control. Fisher Scientific provides portfolio of laboratory equipment, chemicals, supplies and services used in healthcare, scientific research, safety and education markets. It is offered through a network of direct sales professionals, industry-specific catalogs, e-commerce capabilities and supply-chain management services. It also also offers a range of biopharma services for clinical trials management, biospecimen storage and analytical testing.

Analytical Technologies Segment

Analytical technologies segment serves pharmaceutical, biotechnology, academic, government and other research and industrial markets, as well as the clinical laboratory and healthcare industries. It has three primary growth platforms: analytical instruments, specialty diagnostics and biosciences, and provides a range of instruments, software and services, bioscience reagents and diagnostic assays to address various scientific, healthcare, environmental, and process optimization challenges in laboratories, manufacturing and the field. Analytical instruments include scientific instruments, environmental instruments process instruments and services. The products offered under scientific instruments include Life Sciences Mass Spectrometry (LSMS), Inorganic Mass Spectrometry (IOMS), Liquid Chromatography, Gas Chromatography, Trace Elemental Analysis, Bulk Elemental Analysis, Molecular Spectroscopy, Microanalysis, Surface Analysis and Informatics.

The company’s Life Sciences Mass Spectrometry product line features instrumentation for a spectrum of markets and applications. The triple quadrupole, ion trap and hybrid mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) product lines offer tiered portfolios for both qualitative and quantitative analysis across a range of markets including pharmaceutical, academic research, clinical research, food safety, environmental and toxicology markets. IOMS comprises of four product segments: Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (IRMS), Multi-Collector Mass Spectrometry (MC-IRMS), Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) and High Resolution Trace Mass Spectrometry (HR Trace-MS). High Pressure Liquid Chromatography and high speed Ultra High Pressure Liquid Chromatography systems offer high throughput and sensitivity in the analysis of liquid samples. Gas chromatography (GC) is a separation technique that analyzes complex sample matrices in gases. It comprises both separation and detection technology.

Thermo Fisher offers a line of elemental analysis instrumentation for the analysis of trace concentrations of elements in liquid and solid samples. These products are used in environmental, geochemical, agrochemical/agronomic and petrochemical applications including the analysis of sulfur content in petroleum fuels to comply with international regulations. It also provides a full range of instrumentation for elemental analysis of bulk materials such as metals, cement, minerals and petrochemicals using X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-Ray diffraction (XRD) and arc spark optical emission (OES) techniques. Molecular spectroscopy products include Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), Raman, Near-infrared (NIR) and ultraviolet/visible (UV/Vis) spectroscopy. It provides information about the structure of molecules and provides the means for the identification, verification and quantification of primarily organic materials. Under microanalysis, Thermo Fisher provides a range of energy-dispersive (EDS) and wavelength-dispersive (WDS) x-ray analytical instrumentation for electron microscope users. The technique of the surface analysis product range is X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), which provides detailed quantitative information about the chemical composition of solid surfaces and interfaces. The Company develops and provides laboratory information management systems (LIMS) solutions that provide application-specific, purpose-built functionality in software.

The Company’s environmental analysis instrumentation offers technologies that are used for complying with government regulations and industry safety standards, to analyze measure or respond to a hazardous material situation. It is used in three primary applications: air quality monitoring and gas detection, water quality testing and monitoring and radiation measurement and protection. Air quality instruments are offered for ambient air and stack gas emissions monitoring. Gas detection instruments utilize a range of optoelectronic technologies to detect criteria pollutants such as nitrogen oxide at the parts-per-trillion level. Water quality products include meters, electrodes and solutions for the measurement of pH, ions, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, turbidity and other key water parameters. Radiation measurement and protection instruments are used to monitor, detect and identify specific forms of radiation and trace explosives in nuclear power, environmental, industrial, medical and security applications.

Thermo Fisher’s process instruments products include online instrumentation solutions and services that provide regulatory inspection; packaging integrity; process measurements; physical, elemental and compositional analysis, surface and thickness measurements, remote communications, and flow and blend optimization. The industries served include oil and gas, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, food and beverage consumer products, power generation, metal, cement, minerals and mining, semiconductor and polymer. The Company provides a portfolio of services and management solutions designed to help its customers.

Specialty Diagnostics

The Company’s specialty diagnostics products and services are used by the diagnostics community, including healthcare laboratories in hospitals, academic and research institutes, to prepare and analyze patient samples such as blood, urine, body fluids or tissue sections, to detect and diagnose diseases, such as cancer. Its clinical diagnostics products include an offering of liquid, ready-to-use and lyophilized immunodiagnostics reagent kits, calibrators, controls and calibration verification fluids. The Company also provides a range of anatomical pathology (AP) instruments including an autostaining immunohistochemistry slide staining system, a robot stainer used in slide staining of histology and cytological specimens. The Company’s microbiology offerings include microbiology laboratory products, including dehydrated and prepared culture media, collection and transport systems, diagnostic and rapid direct specimen tests, and associated products for the microbiology laboratory.

Biosciences

Thermo Fisher’s biosciences products and services includes fine and high-purity chemistry products; nucleic acid synthesis reagents; PCR and QPCR reagents and related products; molecular biology reagents and consumables; RNA interference (RNAi) reagents; high-quality antibodies; protein analysis reagents and kits; high content screening (HCS) and analysis (HCA) products; cell-culture products and sterile liquid-handling systems. Its life science research products provide technologies, services and support to its global research and business partners. Focusing on genomics, proteomics and cell biology applications, these products are used in academic, government, diagnostic, biotechnology and pharmaceutical laboratories globally to understand biological processes and the basis of human diseases and to shorten the drug discovery and development process.

Laboratory Products and Services Segment

The Company offers a combination of products and services that allows its customers to engage in their core business functions of research, development, manufacturing, clinical diagnosis and drug discovery. It serves the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, academic, government and other research and industrial markets, as well as the clinical laboratory and healthcare industries. This segment has three primary growth platforms: laboratory products, customer channels and bioPharma services, and provides products and integrated solutions for various scientific challenges that support many facets of life science research, clinical diagnosis and workplace safety. Laboratory equipment products consist primarily of sample preparation, controlled environment storage and handling equipment, as well as laboratory workstations. Customer Channels platform serves academic, pharmaceutical, biotech, government, industrial and healthcare customers through its Fisher Scientific, Fisher Healthcare, Fisher Safety, Fisher Scientific Education and Cole Parmer offerings. BioPharma Services offerings include global services for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies engaged in clinical trials, including specialized packaging, over-encapsulation, multi-lingual and specialized labeling and distribution for phase I through phase IV clinical trials, analytical testing, biological-specimen management, as well as specialty pharmaceutical logistics and clinical supply-chain management.