Add Switzerland-based SOPHiA GENETICS to the ever-growing list of foreign life science companies planting a flag in the thriving Massachusetts biotech cluster. The company, which uses artificial intelligence algorithms to comb patients’ DNA sequences in an effort to diagnose cancer and other illnesses, said Monday that it has opened its US headquarters in Boston’s financial district.
Jurgi Camblong, chief executive of SOPHiA, said the seven-year-old Lausanne startup is “experiencing a wide and fast adoption of our technology in North America,” making the creation its first US office two months ago a logical move.
The office at One Boston Place has 20 employees and is expected to expand to 50 within a year. All told, SOPHiA has over 200 employees globally.
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SOPHiA says it has the most widely used technology for genomic analysis, adopted by hundreds of university hospitals worldwide, including over 100 in the US. SOPHiA has analyzed over 250,000 genomic profiles to diagnose hereditary disorders and cancer.
In recent years, many foreign drug makers and life science firms have set up research and development centers — and even moved their US headquarters — to Massachusetts, particularly to Cambridge, because of the concentration of talent and access to universities and world-class hospitals.
Just two weeks ago, Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., the Japanese drug giant that’s in the process of buying local biotech Shire PLC for $62 billion, said that it will close its US headquarters in suburban Chicago and move that operation to the Boston area. It has yet to specifiy an address.
Jonathan Saltzman can be reached at jsaltzman@globe.com