Thermo Fisher's Sarin: diagnostics partners must show value, not just sell

Sarin's remarks at ADLM frame diagnostics as a business where the buying conversation is shifting. Historically, he notes, companies relied on third-party assay providers to bring menus onto their integrated platforms, which drove adoption, and that product- or menu-based model is now evolving into clinical decision support. His examples of that shift are concrete: moving from a single assay to a panel-based approach for early and accurate diagnosis, working with pharmaceutical providers on companion diagnostics to match the right drug to the right patient, and the newly launched EXENT solution in multiple myeloma for less invasive monitoring of recurrence or relapse. Layered on top are external pressures he names — geopolitical factors, inflation, and reimbursements — which he says are pushing customers to rethink partners.

He is also explicit that no single company can cover everything from biomarker discovery to evidence generation, lab instrumentation, market access, and healthcare, which is why he argues the whole ecosystem has to come together. That framing puts Thermo Fisher's own position on the line: Sarin says the company has a huge role to play in enabling customers' transition and wants to be the trusted partner of choice.

The stakes likely hinge on whether labs facing shortages of skilled workforce actually adopt the automation and AI Sarin describes, and on whether buyers accept ecosystem-wide impact — reaching payers, policymakers, and providers — as the measure of a partner. That is a harder claim to prove than a menu of assays, and it is the one his customers will test.