Thermo Fisher's PPD Business Expands Real-World Data Access Through HealthVerity Collaboration

Thermo Fisher Scientific's PPD clinical research business has entered a strategic data collaboration with HealthVerity, a real-world data (RWD) marketplace, to expand its data-driven capabilities across clinical development and evidence generation for biopharma sponsors.¹

Under the agreement, PPD will gain enterprise-level access to HealthVerity's taXonomy claims dataset, which covers more than 270 million de-identified patient lives across the US healthcare system.

The dataset is intended to provide deeper visibility into disease prevalence, treatment patterns, and provider activity—insights the company says will strengthen its artificial intelligence (AI)-driven services across trial feasibility, site selection, patient recruitment, and real-world evidence (RWE) generation.

The collaboration also provides access to a marketplace of more than 70 curated data sources, including electronic medical records, laboratory results, and specialty datasets. With streamlined access to longitudinal claims and linked datasets, PPD aims to deliver more precise site selection strategies and improved study startup timelines.

"This collaboration advances our ability to integrate high-quality, linked healthcare data into clinical development," said Krishna Cheriath, vice president and head of clinical research digital and AI at Thermo Fisher Scientific, in a company statement. "By utilizing one of the largest integrated healthcare data ecosystems with our AI-enabled analytics, we can generate robust real-world evidence to support our customers across the clinical and post-approval continuum."

Beyond trial operations, the agreement is designed to enhance PPD's RWE and health economics and outcomes research offerings, including capabilities within PPD CorEvitas Clinical Registries and PPD Evidera solutions.

The companies say the collaboration will enable faster analytics and expanded registry-linked claims capabilities for sponsors navigating both interventional and observational study designs.

"With enterprise access to robust real-world insights, teams can move faster and with greater confidence—from feasibility through evidence generation—improving how studies are designed and executed," said Joseph Satili, chief commercial officer at HealthVerity.

Thermo Fisher emphasized that the collaboration will be conducted under rigorous privacy protections and data governance standards, maintaining compliance across all linked dataset use cases.

Building out a broader data strategy

The HealthVerity agreement is the latest in a series of data partnerships through which Thermo Fisher has been expanding its RWD infrastructure. Earlier this year, the company announced a strategic collaboration with Datavant to advance RWD interoperability across its PPD clinical research business.²

Under that agreement, PPD integrated Datavant's privacy-preserving tokenization technology to enable secure linkage and analysis of patient-level data across randomized clinical trials, PPD CorEvitas Clinical Registries, and PPD Evidera solutions.

Datavant's ecosystem spans more than 350 real-world data partners and approximately 80,000 US hospitals and clinics, supporting encrypted linkage that allows retrieval of consented electronic medical record data for bespoke RWE generation.

"By integrating Datavant's capabilities with Thermo Fisher's data, digital and AI capabilities, we can help our customers accelerate insights and ultimately improve patient outcomes," Cheriath said of that earlier partnership in a press release.

Together, the Datavant and HealthVerity collaborations reflect a deliberate effort by Thermo Fisher to build a more connected and data-rich foundation for clinical development through linked patient data, AI-enabled analytics, and RWE generation.

Further insight on the use of AI in clinical operations

Applied Clinical Trials recently caught up with Cheriath for an exclusive video interview on how AI is reshaping clinical operations. He highlighted areas such as case intake, trial design, and site burden reduction as well as the emerging reality of agentic AI in the workforce.

“Tech is complex, and we need to do it, but the two biggest factors that drive successful adoption are, number one, the willingness to reimagine business processes and operational workflows to be AI by design,” Cheriath explained. “And second is upskilling the talent to be able to use this appropriately and wisely. Those two things look great on PowerPoint slides to say, but they're harder to do.”

References

1. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s PPD Clinical Research Business Collaborates with HealthVerity to Expand Real-World Data Capabilities. News release. Thermo Fisher. April 13, 2026. Accessed April 13, 2026. https://www.ppd.com/news-item/thermo-fisher-scientifics-ppd-clinical-research-business-collaborates-with-healthverity-to-expand-real-world-data-capabilities/

2. Thermo Fisher, Datavant Partner to Advance Real-World Data Interoperability Across Clinical Development. Applied Clinical Trials. February 11, 2026. Accessed April 13, 2026. https://www.appliedclinicaltrialsonline.com/view/thermo-fisher-datavant-partner-real-world-data-interoperability-clinical-development