Basel Area Business & Innovation, the investment and innovation promotion agency, has achieved a milestone. With LifeMine Therapeutics, it has assisted its 200th company in settling in the Basel Area. The biotechnology company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts in the USA has established its European headquarters in the Basel Area, which consists of the three Swiss cantons of Basel-Landschaft, Basel-Stadt and Jura.

“Having LifeMine Therapeutics as our 200th customer is exciting for our team and the region,” said Christof Klöpper, CEO at Basel Area Business & Innovation, in a press release. “Another company coming from the Boston Area – one of the world’s biggest life sciences hubs – really highlights the opportunities in the Basel Area for international biotech companies.”

122 settlements from the life sciences industry

LifeMine is reinventing drug discovery by mining genetically encoded small molecules from the biosphere and will now continue its work from Basel as well. “We are very excited to be expanding our operations to Basel, and to establish in an area full of innovative companies,” commented WeiQing Zhou, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer at LifeMine Therapeutics. “Basel Area Business & Innovation has provided fantastic support, making the process as smooth as we could have hoped.”

Of the 200 companies assisted in settling in the Basel Area since 2016, 164 were not Swiss, originating from other European countries, Asia and the USA. Of these, 122 are from the life sciences industry. An increasing number involved in production and process technology are also choosing to settle in the Basel Area.

(Read more about starting a business in Switzerland)