WILMINGTON – PPD, which has a large lab operation in the Triangle, is heading into its yet-to-be approved merger with Thermo Fisher Scientific with a full head of steam.

Revenues surged to $1.56 billion in the third quarer, a jump of 26.5% year over year, PPD (Nasdaq: PPD) reported Wednesday after the markets closed.

Earnings jumped 28 cents cents year-over-year to 43 cents per share for the life science services firm.

“PPD’s strong results reflect solid performance against our strategy to help customers bend the cost and time curve of drug development,” said David Simmons, PPD’s chairman and CEO, in a statement. “Our capabilities and execution-focused culture continue to drive growth, as we add another quarter of double-digit growth across key metrics to our track record of success. In addition, to service our record-ending backlog and prepare for new business, I’m excited to share that our talented workforce has grown 19% year-over-year and is now more than 30,000 strong, further bolstering our scale and scientific leadership.”

The merger with Thermo Fisher was announced in April.

Read the full earnings report online.