TMO, §1A diff (2020 → 2021)

THERMO FISHER SCIENTIFIC INC.

Item 1A. Risk Factors

Set forth below are the risks that we believe are material to our investors. This section contains forward-looking statements. You should refer to the explanation of the qualifications and limitations on forward-looking statements in Item 1. Business under the caption “Forward-looking Statements”.

Industry and Economic Risks

Our growth would suffer if the markets into which we sell our products and services decline, do not grow as anticipated or experience cyclicality. Our growth depends in part on the growth of the markets which we serve. Any decline or lower than expected growth in our served markets would diminish demand for our products and services, which would adversely affect our financial statements. Certain of our businesses operate in industries that may experience periodic, cyclical downturns.

Our business is affected by general economic conditions and related uncertainties affecting markets in which we operate. Our business is affected by general economic conditions, both inside and outside the U.S. If the global economy and financial markets, or economic conditions in Europe, the U.S. or other key markets, continue to be unstable (including as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic), it could adversely affect the business, results of operations and financial condition of the company and its customers, distributors, and suppliers, having the effect of:

•reducing demand for some of our products;

•increasing the rate of order cancellations or delays;

•increasing the risk of excess and obsolete inventories;

•increasing pressure on the prices for our products and services;

•causing supply interruptions, which could disrupt our ability to produce our products; and

•creating longer sales cycles and greater difficulty in collecting sales proceeds.

Economic, political, foreign currency and other risks associated with international sales and operations could adversely affect our results of operations. International markets contribute a substantial portion of our revenues, and we intend to continue expanding our presence in these regions. The exposure to fluctuations in currency exchange rates takes on different forms. International revenues and costs are subject to the risk that fluctuations in exchange rates could adversely affect our reported revenues and profitability when translated into U.S. dollars for financial reporting purposes. These fluctuations could also adversely affect the demand for products and services provided by us. As a multinational corporation, our businesses occasionally invoice third-party customers in currencies other than the one in which they primarily do business (the “functional currency”). Movements in the invoiced currency relative to the functional currency could adversely impact our cash flows and our results of operations. As our international sales grow, exposure to fluctuations in currency exchange rates could have a larger effect on our financial results. In 2021, currency translation had a favorable effect of $619 million on revenues due to the weakening of the U.S. dollar relative to other currencies in which the company sells products and services.

Some emerging market countries may be particularly vulnerable to periods of global and local political, legal, regulatory and financial instability, including issues of geopolitical relations, the imposition of international sanctions in response to certain state actions and/or sovereign debt issues, and may have a higher incidence of corruption and fraudulent business practices. As a result of these and other factors, our strategy to grow in emerging markets may not be successful, and growth rates in these markets may not be sustainable.

In addition, many of our employees, contract manufacturers, suppliers, job functions, outsourcing activities and manufacturing facilities are located outside the U.S. Accordingly, our future results could be harmed by a variety of factors, including:

•interruption to transportation flows for delivery of parts to us and finished goods to our customers;

•changes in a specific country's or region's political, economic or other conditions;

•changes in diplomatic and trade relationships, including new tariffs, trade protection measures, import or export licensing requirements, trade embargoes and sanctions and other trade barriers;

•tariffs imposed by the U.S. on goods from other countries and tariffs imposed by other countries on U.S. goods, including the tariffs adopted by the U.S. government on various imports from China and by the Chinese government on certain U.S. goods;

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•the impact of public health epidemics/pandemics on the global economy, such as the COVID-19 pandemic;

•uncertainties regarding the collectability of accounts receivable;

•the imposition of governmental controls;

•diverse data privacy and protection requirements;

•supply interruptions, which could disrupt our ability to produce our products;

•negative consequences from changes in tax laws;

•difficulty in staffing and managing widespread operations;

•differing labor regulations;

•differing protection of intellectual property;

•unexpected changes in regulatory requirements;

•the effects of the U.K.'s departure from the E.U., known as Brexit; and

•geopolitical uncertainty or turmoil, including terrorism and war.

Demand for some of our products depends on capital spending policies of our customers and on government funding policies. Our customers include pharmaceutical and chemical companies, laboratories, universities, healthcare providers, government agencies and public and private research institutions. Many factors, including public policy spending priorities, available resources and product and economic cycles, have a significant effect on the capital spending policies of these entities.

Spending by some of these customers fluctuates based on budget allocations and the timely passage of the annual federal budget. An impasse in federal government budget decisions could lead to substantial delays or reductions in federal spending.

We are subject to risks associated with public health crises and epidemics/pandemics, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Our global operations expose us to risks associated with public health crises and epidemics/pandemics, such as COVID-19. The global spread of COVID-19 has created significant volatility, uncertainty and worldwide economic disruption, resulting in an economic slowdown of potentially extended duration.

COVID-19 has had an adverse impact on certain of our operations, supply chains and distribution systems, including as a result of impacts associated with preventive and precautionary measures that we, other businesses and governments are taking. National, state and local governments have implemented and may continue to implement safety precautions, including quarantines, border closures, increased border controls, travel restrictions, shelter in place orders and shutdowns and other measures. These measures may disrupt normal business operations and may have significant negative impacts on businesses and financial markets worldwide.

The company has mobilized to support the COVID-19 response with products and services that help diagnose the virus as well as assisting customers to develop therapeutics and vaccines used to protect from the virus. Our ability to continue to manufacture products is highly dependent on our ability to maintain the safety and health of our factory employees. The ability of our employees to work may be significantly impacted by individuals contracting or being exposed to COVID-19. While we are following the requirements of governmental authorities and taking preventative and protective measures to prioritize the safety of our employees, these measures may not be successful, and we may be required to temporarily close facilities or take other measures. While we are staying in close communication with our sites, employees, customers and suppliers and acting to mitigate the impact of this dynamic and evolving situation, the duration and extent of the effect of COVID-19 on the company is not determinable.

In addition, several of the company’s businesses have had an increase in revenues due to sales of products addressing diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19. While these positive impacts are expected to continue into 2022, the duration and extent of future revenues from such sales are uncertain and dependent primarily on customer testing demand.

Business Risks

We must develop new products, adapt to rapid and significant technological change and respond to introductions of new products by competitors to remain competitive. Our growth strategy includes significant investment in and expenditures for product development. We sell our products in several industries that are characterized by rapid and significant technological changes, frequent new product and service introductions and enhancements and evolving industry standards. Competitive factors include technological innovation, price, service and delivery, breadth of product line, customer support, e-business

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capabilities and the ability to meet the special requirements of customers. Our competitors may adapt more quickly to new technologies and changes in customers’ requirements than we can. Without the timely introduction of new products, services and enhancements, our products and services will likely become technologically obsolete over time, in which case our revenues and operating results would suffer.

Many of our existing products and those under development are technologically innovative and require significant planning, design, development and testing at the technological, product and manufacturing-process levels. Our customers use many of our products to develop, test and manufacture their own products. As a result, we must anticipate industry trends and develop products in advance of the commercialization of our customers’ products. If we fail to adequately predict our customers’ needs and future activities, we may invest heavily in research and development of products and services that do not lead to significant revenues.

It may be difficult for us to implement our strategies for improving internal growth. Our growth depends in part on the growth of the markets which we serve. Any decline or lower than expected growth in our served markets could diminish demand for our products and services, which would adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition. To address this issue, we are pursuing a number of strategies to improve our internal growth, including:

•strengthening our presence in selected geographic markets;

•allocating research and development funding to products with higher growth prospects;

•developing new applications for our technologies;

•expanding our service offerings;

•continuing key customer initiatives;

•combining sales and marketing operations in appropriate markets to compete more effectively;

•finding new markets for our products; and

•continuing the development of commercial tools and infrastructure to increase and support cross-selling opportunities of products and services to take advantage of our depth in product offerings.

We may not be able to successfully implement these strategies, and these strategies may not result in the expected growth of our business.

Because we compete directly with certain of our larger customers and product suppliers, our results of operations could be adversely affected in the short term if these customers or suppliers abruptly discontinue or significantly modify their relationship with us. Our largest customer in the laboratory products business is also a significant competitor. Our business may be harmed in the short term if our competitive relationship in the marketplace with certain of our large customers results in a discontinuation of their purchases from us. In addition, we manufacture products that compete directly with products that we source from third-party suppliers. We also source competitive products from multiple suppliers. Our business could be adversely affected in the short term if any of our large third-party suppliers abruptly discontinues selling products to us.

Integrating PPD into our business may be more difficult, costly or time consuming than expected and the anticipated benefits and cost savings of the transaction may not be fully realized. The success of the PPD acquisition, including the realization of anticipated benefits and cost savings, depends, in part, on our ability to successfully integrate PPD into our business. The integration is a difficult, costly and time-consuming process. It is possible that the integration process could result in the loss of key employees or the disruption of our ongoing business or that the alignment of standards, controls, procedures and policies may adversely affect our ability to maintain relationships with clients, customers, suppliers and employees or to fully achieve the anticipated benefits and cost savings of the transaction. The loss of key employees could adversely affect our ability to successfully conduct our business in the markets in which PPD now operates, which could have an adverse effect on our financial results.

If we experience difficulties with the integration process, the anticipated benefits and cost savings of the PPD acquisition may not be realized fully or at all, or may take longer to realize than expected, and our business may be unable to grow as planned, which could materially impact our business, cash flow, financial condition or results of operations as well as adversely impact our share price. The integration process may also result in significant expenses and charges, both cash and noncash.

Our inability to complete any pending acquisitions or to successfully integrate any new or previous acquisitions could have a material adverse effect on our business. Our business strategy includes the acquisition of technologies and businesses that complement or augment our existing products and services. Certain acquisitions may be difficult to complete for a number of reasons, including the need for antitrust and/or other regulatory approvals, as well as disputes or litigation. Any

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acquisition we may complete may be made at a substantial premium over the fair value of the net identifiable assets of the acquired company. Further, we may not be able to integrate acquired businesses successfully into our existing businesses, make such businesses profitable, or realize anticipated cost savings or synergies, if any, from these acquisitions, which could adversely affect our business.

Moreover, we have acquired many companies and businesses. As a result of these acquisitions, we recorded significant goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets (primarily tradenames) on our balance sheet, which amount to approximately $41.92 billion and $1.24 billion, respectively, as of December 31, 2021. In addition, we have definite-lived intangible assets totaling $18.88 billion as of December 31, 2021. We assess the realizability of goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets annually as well as whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that these assets may be impaired. We assess the realizability of definite-lived intangible assets whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that these assets may be impaired. These events or circumstances would generally include operating losses or a significant decline in earnings associated with the acquired business or asset. Our ability to realize the value of the goodwill and intangible assets will depend on the future cash flows of these businesses. These cash flows in turn depend in part on how well we have integrated these businesses. If we are not able to realize the value of the goodwill and intangible assets, we may be required to incur material charges relating to the impairment of those assets.

Operational Risks

Our reliance upon sole or limited sources of supply for certain materials or components could cause production interruptions, delays and inefficiencies. Some of our businesses purchase certain materials from sole or limited source suppliers for reasons of quality assurance, regulatory requirements, cost effectiveness, availability or uniqueness of design. If these or other suppliers encounter financial, operating or other difficulties or if our relationship with them changes, we might not be able to quickly establish or qualify replacement sources of supply. The supply chains for our businesses could also be disrupted by supplier capacity constraints, bankruptcy or exiting of the business for other reasons, decreased availability of key raw materials or commodities and external events such as natural disasters, pandemic health issues such as COVID-19, war, terrorist actions, governmental actions and legislative or regulatory changes. Any of these factors could result in production interruptions, delays, extended lead times and inefficiencies.

A significant disruption in, or breach in security of, our information technology systems or violation of data privacy laws could adversely affect our business. As a part of our ongoing effort to upgrade our current information systems, we periodically implement new enterprise resource planning software and other software applications to manage certain of our business operations. As we implement and add functionality, problems could arise that we have not foreseen. Such problems could disrupt our ability to provide quotes, take customer orders and otherwise run our business in a timely manner. When we upgrade or change systems, we may suffer interruptions in service, loss of data or reduced functionality. In addition, if our new systems fail to provide accurate pricing and cost data our results of operations and cash flows could be adversely affected.

We also rely on our information technology systems to process, transmit and store electronic information (including sensitive data such as confidential business information and personally identifiable data relating to employees, customers and other business partners) and to manage or support a variety of critical business processes and activities (such as interacting with suppliers, selling our products and services, fulfilling orders and billing, collecting and making payments, shipping products, providing services and support to customers, tracking customer activity, fulfilling contractual obligations and otherwise conducting business). Our systems may be vulnerable to damage or interruption from natural disasters, power loss, telecommunication failures, terrorist attacks, computer hackers, computer viruses, ransomware, phishing, computer denial-of-service attacks, unauthorized access to customer or employee data or company trade secrets, and other attempts to harm our systems. Certain of our systems are not redundant, and our disaster recovery planning is not sufficient for every eventuality. Despite any precautions we may take, such problems could result in, among other consequences, interruptions in our services, which could harm our reputation and financial results. Our key business partners face similar risks and any security breach of their systems could adversely affect our security posture. Any of the cyber-attacks, breaches or other disruptions or damage described above, if significant, could materially interrupt our operations, delay production and shipments, result in theft of our and our customers’ intellectual property and trade secrets, damage customer, business partner and employee relationships and our reputation or result in defective products or services, legal claims and proceedings, liability and penalties under privacy laws and increased cost for security and remediation, each of which could adversely affect our business and financial results. Our liability insurance may not be sufficient in type or amount to cover us against claims related to security breaches, cyber-attacks and other related breaches.

If we are unable to maintain reliable information technology systems and appropriate controls with respect to global data privacy and security requirements and prevent data breaches, we may suffer regulatory consequences in addition to business consequences. As a global organization, we are subject to data privacy and security laws, regulations, and customer-imposed

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Risk Factors (continued)

controls in numerous jurisdictions as a result of having access to and processing confidential, personal and/or sensitive data in the course of our business. For example, in the U.S., individual states regulate data breach and security requirements and multiple governmental bodies assert authority over aspects of the protection of personal privacy. European laws require us to have an approved legal mechanism to transfer personal data out of Europe, and the EU General Data Protection Regulation imposes significantly stricter requirements in how we collect and process personal data. Several countries, such as China and Russia, have passed laws that require personal data relating to their citizens to be maintained on local servers and impose additional data transfer restrictions. Government enforcement actions can be costly and interrupt the regular operation of our business, and data breaches or violations of data privacy laws can result in fines, reputational damage and civil lawsuits, any of which may adversely affect our business, reputation and financial statements.

We may have difficulty attracting and retaining a highly qualified workforce. Our success is largely dependent upon our ability to attract and retain highly qualified scientific, technical, clinical and management workforce in a highly competitive environment. Qualified individuals are in high demand, and we may incur significant costs to attract them. We may face difficulty in attracting and retaining key talent for a number of reasons, including management changes or recruitment by competitors. Our ability to attract and retain key talent also depends in part on how well we maintain a strong workplace culture that is attractive to employees. We cannot ensure that we will be able to hire or retain the personnel necessary for our operations or that the loss of any personnel will not have a material impact on our financial condition and results of operations.

We may incur unexpected costs from increases in fuel and raw material prices, which could reduce our earnings and cash flows. Our primary commodity exposures are for fuel, petroleum-based resins and steel. While we may seek to minimize the impact of price increases through higher prices to customers and various cost-saving measures, our earnings and cash flows could be adversely affected in the event these measures are insufficient to cover our costs.

Because we rely heavily on third-party package-delivery services, a significant disruption in these services or significant increases in prices may disrupt our ability to ship products, increase our costs and lower our profitability. We ship a significant portion of our products to our customers through independent package delivery companies, such as Federal Express in the U.S. and DHL in Europe. We also maintain a small fleet of vehicles dedicated to the delivery of our products and ship our products through other carriers, including national and regional trucking firms, overnight carrier services and the U.S. Postal Service. If one or more of these third-party package-delivery providers were to experience a major work stoppage, preventing our products from being delivered in a timely fashion or causing us to incur additional shipping costs we could not pass on to our customers, our costs could increase and our relationships with certain of our customers could be adversely affected. In addition, if one or more of these third-party package-delivery providers were to increase prices, and we were not able to find comparable alternatives or make adjustments in our delivery network, our profitability could be adversely affected.

Natural disasters, public health crises, political crises, and other catastrophic events or other events outside of our control may disrupt our facilities or the facilities of third parties on which we depend, and could impact customer spending. We have significant operations in California, near major earthquake faults, which make us susceptible to earthquake risk. An earthquake or other natural disaster such as a fire or hurricane or power shortages or outages could disrupt our operations or impair our critical systems. Any of these disruptions or other events outside of our control, such as strikes or other labor unrest, could have an adverse effect on our results of operations. In addition, if any of our facilities, including our manufacturing or warehouse facilities, or the facilities of our suppliers, third-party service providers, or customers, is affected by natural disasters, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, power shortages or outages, floods or monsoons, public health crises, such as pandemics and epidemics, political crises, such as terrorism, war, political instability or other conflict, or other events outside of our control, such as trade protectionism, strikes or other labor unrest, our results of operations could be adversely affected. Moreover, these types of events could negatively impact customer spending in the impacted regions or depending upon the severity, globally, which could also adversely impact our operating results.

Increasing attention to environmental, social and governance matters may impact our business, financial results or stock price. Companies across all industries are facing increasing scrutiny from stakeholders related to their environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices and disclosures, including practices and disclosures related to climate change, diversity and inclusion and governance standards. Investor advocacy groups, certain institutional investors, lenders, investment funds and other influential investors are also increasingly focused on ESG practices and disclosures and in recent years have placed increasing importance on the implications and social cost of their investments. In addition, government organizations are enhancing or advancing legal and regulatory requirements specific to ESG matters. The heightened stakeholder focus on ESG issues related to our business requires the continuous monitoring of various and evolving laws, regulations, standards and expectations and the associated reporting requirements. A failure to adequately meet stakeholder expectations may result in noncompliance, the loss of business, reputational impacts, diluted market valuation, an inability to attract customers and an

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inability to attract and retain top talent. In addition, our adoption of certain standards or mandated compliance to certain requirements could necessitate additional investments that could impact our profitability.

Legal, Quality and Regulatory Risks

Changes in governmental regulations may reduce demand for our products or increase our expenses. We compete in many markets in which we and our customers must comply with federal, state, local and international regulations, such as environmental, health and safety and food and drug regulations. We develop, configure and market our products to meet customer needs created by those regulations. Any significant change in regulations could reduce demand for our products or increase our expenses. For example, we manufacture pharmaceuticals and many of our instruments are marketed to the pharmaceutical industry for use in discovering and developing drugs. Changes in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (the FDA) regulation of the drug discovery and development process could have an adverse effect on the demand for these products.

We are subject to laws and regulations governing government contracts, and failure to address these laws and regulations or comply with government contracts could harm our business by leading to a reduction in revenues associated with these customers. We have agreements relating to the sale of our products to government entities and, as a result, we are subject to various statutes and regulations that apply to companies doing business with the government. The laws governing government contracts differ from the laws governing private contracts and government contracts may contain pricing terms and conditions that are not applicable to private contracts. We are also subject to investigation for compliance with the regulations governing government contracts. A failure to comply with these regulations could result in suspension of these contracts, criminal, civil and administrative penalties or debarment.

Our pharma services offerings are highly complex, and if we are unable to provide quality and timely offerings to our customers, our business could suffer. Our pharma services offerings are highly exacting and complex, due in part to strict quality and regulatory requirements. Our operating results in this business depend on our ability to execute and, when necessary, improve our quality management strategy and systems, and our ability to effectively train and maintain our employee base with respect to quality management. A failure of our quality control systems could result in problems with facility operations or preparation or provision of products. In each case, such problems could arise for a variety of reasons, including equipment malfunction, failure to follow specific protocols and procedures, problems with raw materials or environmental factors and damage to, or loss of, manufacturing operations. Such problems could affect production of a particular batch or series of batches of products, requiring the destruction of such products or a halt of facility production altogether.

In addition, our failure to meet required quality standards may result in our failure to timely deliver products to our customers, which in turn could damage our reputation for quality and service. Any such failure could, among other things, lead to increased costs, lost revenues, reimbursement to customers for lost drug product, registered intermediates, registered starting materials, and active pharmaceutical ingredients, other customer claims, damage to and possibly termination of existing customer relationships, time and expense spent investigating the cause and, depending on the cause, similar losses with respect to other batches or products. Production problems in our drug and biologic manufacturing operations could be particularly significant because the cost of raw materials for such manufacturing is often high. If problems in preparation or manufacture of a product or failures to meet required quality standards for that product are not discovered before such product is released to the market, we may be subject to adverse regulatory actions, including product recalls, product seizures, injunctions to halt manufacture and distribution, restrictions on our operations, civil sanctions, including monetary sanctions, and criminal actions. In addition, such problems or failures could subject us to litigation claims, including claims from our customers for reimbursement for the cost of lost or damaged active pharmaceutical ingredients, the cost of which could be significant.

We are subject to product and other liability risks for which we may not have adequate insurance coverage. We may be named as a defendant in product liability lawsuits, which may allege that products or services we have provided from our pharma services offerings have resulted or could result in an unsafe condition or injury to consumers. Additionally, products currently or previously sold by our environmental and process instruments and radiation measurement and security instruments businesses include fixed and portable instruments used for chemical, radiation and trace explosives detection. These products are used in airports, embassies, cargo facilities, border crossings and other high-threat facilities for the detection and prevention of terrorist acts. If any of these products were to malfunction, it is possible that explosive or radioactive material could fail to be detected by our product, which could lead to product liability claims. In addition, patients involved in our clinical services trials conducted by our clinical development services business or taking drugs approved on the basis of those trials may also bring personal injury claims against us. There are also many other factors beyond our control that could lead to liability claims, such as the reliability and competence of the customers’ operators and the training of such operators.

Any such product liability claims brought against us could be significant and any adverse determination may result in liabilities in excess of our insurance coverage. Although we carry product liability insurance, we cannot be certain that our current insurance will be sufficient to cover these claims or that it can be maintained on acceptable terms, if at all.

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We are required to comply with a wide variety of laws and regulations, and are subject to regulation by various federal, state and foreign agencies. We are subject to various local, state, federal, foreign and transnational laws and regulations, which include the operating and security standards of the FDA, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (the DEA), various state boards of pharmacy, state health departments, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (the DHHS), the European Medicines Agency (the EMA), the EU member states and other comparable agencies and, in the future, any changes to such laws and regulations could adversely affect us. In particular, we are subject to laws and regulations concerning current good manufacturing practices and drug safety. Our subsidiaries may be required to register for permits and/or licenses with, and may be required to comply with the laws and regulations of the DEA, the FDA, the DHHS, foreign agencies including the EMA, and other various state boards of pharmacy, state health departments and/or comparable state agencies as well as certain accrediting bodies depending upon the type of operations and location of product distribution, manufacturing and sale.

The manufacture, distribution and marketing of many of our products and services, including medical devices, and our pharma and clinical development services, are subject to extensive ongoing regulation by the FDA, the DEA, the EMA, and other equivalent local, state, federal and non-U.S. regulatory authorities. In addition, we are subject to inspections by these regulatory authorities. Failure by us or by our customers to comply with the requirements of these regulatory authorities, including without limitation, remediating any inspectional observations to the satisfaction of these regulatory authorities, could result in warning letters, product recalls or seizures, monetary sanctions, injunctions to halt manufacture and distribution, restrictions on our operations, civil or criminal sanctions, or withdrawal of existing or denial of pending approvals, including those relating to products or facilities. In addition, such a failure could expose us to contractual or product liability claims, contractual claims from our customers, including claims for reimbursement for lost or damaged active pharmaceutical ingredients or personal injury, as well as ongoing remediation and increased compliance costs, any or all of which could be significant. We are the sole manufacturer of a number of pharmaceuticals for many of our customers and a negative regulatory event could impact our customers' ability to provide products to their customers.

We are also subject to a variety of federal, state, local and international laws and regulations that govern, among other things, the handling, transportation and manufacture of substances that could be classified as hazardous, and we are required to comply with various import laws and export control and economic sanctions laws, which may affect our transactions with certain customers. In certain circumstances, export control and economic sanctions regulations may prohibit the export of certain products, services and technologies. In other circumstances, we may be required to obtain an export license before exporting the controlled item. Compliance with the various import laws that apply to our businesses can restrict our access to, and increase the cost of obtaining, certain products and at times can interrupt our supply of imported inventory. Any noncompliance by us with applicable laws and regulations or the failure to maintain, renew or obtain necessary permits and licenses could result in criminal, civil and administrative penalties and could have an adverse effect on our results of operations.

Our reputation, ability to do business and financial statements may be impaired by improper conduct by any of our employees, agents or business partners. We have internal controls and compliance systems to protect the company against acts committed by employees, agents or businesses that we acquire that would violate U.S. and/or non-U.S. laws, including the laws governing payments to government officials, bribery, fraud, kickbacks and false claims, pricing, sales and marketing practices, conflicts of interest, competition, employment practices and workplace behavior, export and import compliance, money laundering and data privacy, but these controls and systems may not be sufficient to prevent every such wrongful act. In particular, the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the U.K. Bribery Act 2010 and similar anti-bribery laws in other jurisdictions generally prohibit companies and their intermediaries from making improper payments to government officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business, and we operate in many parts of the world that have experienced governmental corruption to some degree. Any such improper actions or allegations of such acts could damage our reputation and subject us to civil or criminal investigations in the U.S. and in other jurisdictions and related shareholder lawsuits, could lead to substantial civil and criminal, monetary and nonmonetary penalties and could cause us to incur significant legal and investigatory fees. In addition, the government may seek to hold us liable for violations committed by companies which we acquire. We also rely on our suppliers to adhere to our supplier standards of conduct, and material violations of such standards of conduct could occur that could have a material effect on our business, reputation and financial statements.

Our inability to protect our intellectual property could have a material adverse effect on our business. In addition, third parties may claim that we infringe their intellectual property, and we could suffer significant litigation or licensing expense as a result. We place considerable emphasis on obtaining patent and trade secret protection for significant new technologies, products and processes because of the length of time and expense associated with bringing new products through the development process and into the marketplace. Our success depends in part on our ability to develop patentable products and obtain and enforce patent protection for our products both in the U.S. and in other countries. We own numerous U.S. and foreign patents, and we intend to file additional applications, as appropriate, for patents covering our products. Patents may not

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be issued for any pending or future patent applications owned by or licensed to us, and the claims allowed under any issued patents may not be sufficiently broad to protect our technology. Any issued patents owned by or licensed to us may be challenged, invalidated or circumvented, and the rights under these patents may not provide us with competitive advantages. In addition, competitors may design around our technology or develop competing technologies. Intellectual property rights may also be unavailable or limited in some foreign countries, which could make it easier for competitors to capture increased market position. We could incur substantial costs to defend ourselves in suits brought against us or in suits in which we may assert our patent rights against others. An unfavorable outcome of any such litigation could materially adversely affect our business and results of operations.

We also rely on trade secrets and proprietary know-how with which we seek to protect our products, in part, by confidentiality agreements with our collaborators, employees and consultants. These agreements may not adequately protect our trade secrets and other proprietary rights. These agreements may be breached and we may not have adequate remedies for any breach. In addition, our trade secrets may otherwise become known or be independently developed by our competitors.

Third parties may assert claims against us to the effect that we are infringing on their intellectual property rights. In the event that a claim relating to intellectual property is asserted against us, or third parties not affiliated with us hold pending or issued patents that relate to our products or technology, we may seek licenses to such intellectual property or challenge those patents. However, we may be unable to obtain these licenses on commercially reasonable terms, if at all, and our challenge of the patents may be unsuccessful. Our failure to obtain the necessary licenses or other rights could prevent the sale, manufacture, or distribution of our products and, therefore, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Risks Relating to Financial Profile

Fluctuations in our effective tax rate may adversely affect our results of operations and cash flows. As a global company, we are subject to taxation in numerous countries, states and other jurisdictions. In preparing our financial statements, we record the amount of tax that is payable in each of the countries, states and other jurisdictions in which we operate. Our future effective tax rate, however, may be lower or higher than experienced in the past due to numerous factors, including a change in the mix of our profitability from country to country, changes in accounting for income taxes, the results of examinations and audits of our tax filings and recently enacted and future changes in tax laws in jurisdictions in which we operate. Any of these factors could cause us to experience an effective tax rate significantly different from previous periods or our current expectations, which could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations and cash flows.

Our existing and future indebtedness may restrict our investment opportunities or limit our activities and negatively impact our credit ratings. As of December 31, 2021, we had approximately $34.87 billion in outstanding indebtedness. In addition, we have availability to borrow under a revolving credit facility that provides for up to $5.00 billion (as of January 7. 2022) of unsecured multi-currency revolving credit (the Facility). We may also obtain additional long-term debt and lines of credit to meet future financing needs, which would have the effect of increasing our total leverage.

Our leverage could have negative consequences, including increasing our vulnerability to adverse economic and industry conditions, limiting our ability to obtain additional financing and limiting our ability to acquire new products and technologies through strategic acquisitions.

Our ability to make scheduled payments, refinance our obligations or obtain additional financing will depend on our future operating performance and on economic, financial, competitive and other factors beyond our control. Our business may not generate sufficient cash flow to meet our obligations. If we are unable to service our debt, refinance our existing debt or obtain additional financing, we may be forced to delay strategic acquisitions, capital expenditures or research and development expenditures.

Additionally, the agreements governing our debt require that we maintain a financial ratio, and contain affirmative and negative covenants that restrict our activities by, among other limitations, limiting our ability to incur additional indebtedness, merge or consolidate with other entities and create liens. The covenants in the Facility include a Consolidated Net Interest Coverage Ratio (Consolidated EBITDA to Consolidated Net Interest Expense), as such terms are defined in the Facility. Specifically, the company has agreed that, so long as any lender has any commitment under the Facility, any letter of credit is outstanding under the Facility, or any loan or other obligation is outstanding under the Facility, it will maintain a minimum Consolidated Interest Coverage Ratio of 3.5:1.0 as of the last day of any fiscal quarter.

Our ability to comply with these financial restrictions and covenants is dependent on our future performance, which is subject to prevailing economic conditions and other factors, including factors that are beyond our control such as the impact of foreign exchange rates and interest rates. Our failure to comply with any of these restrictions or covenants may result in an event of default under the applicable debt instrument, which could permit acceleration of the debt under that instrument and

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THERMO FISHER SCIENTIFIC INC.

Risk Factors (continued)

require us to prepay that debt before its scheduled due date. Also, an acceleration of the debt under certain of our debt instruments would trigger an event of default under other of our debt instruments.