Chicago-based precision medicine company plans 200-job expansion into RTP

Tempus, a Chicago-based precision medicine company, said Wednesday it plans to hire 200 people at a genomic-sequencing lab it hopes to open in Research Triangle Park by the end of the year.

The company will open the 52,000-square-foot lab on the Parmer RTP campus, a collection of buildings that used to be part of the GlaxoSmithKline campus. So far the company is hiring for 15 of the 200 eventual roles it will have in RTP.

The company declined to say what salary range for the new jobs will be.

Tempus was started in 2015 by Eric Lefosky, the billionaire entrepreneur who founded the company Groupon. It raised $200 million from investors last December.

The startup uses artificial intelligence to analyze clinical data of patients to determine personalized care options.

The company focuses on providing insights for oncology and psychiatry, and it is growing quickly. The RTP lab will be its third, in addition to ones in Chicago and Atlanta. The company employs around 1,500 people across the U.S., Fierce Biotech reported.

The company cited the presence of Duke University, UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. State University as one of the driving reasons behind its decision to open a lab in RTP.

“Over the last few years, we have considerably grown our diagnostic testing business in both our Chicago and Atlanta labs. As we approached our current capacity, we sought a facility in which we can build a state-of-the-art lab to support our diagnostic growth,” Kimberly Yeatts, vice president of lab operations at Tempus, said in a statement. “The Research Triangle has historically been very supportive of health tech businesses like ours, so we are thrilled to be joining this dynamic community.”

Earlier this week, Amgen said it plans to build a manufacturing plant in Holly Springs that will employ 355 people. Amgen, one of the largest drug makers in the country, received a Job Development Investment Grant from the state worth around $12.6 million for the expansion.

On Tuesday, Gov. Roy Cooper said North Carolina has now recruited 47 life-sciences projects since 2017, promising to create some 7,200 jobs. That number doesn’t include companies that picked the state and didn’t ask for incentives.

Apple, which is expected to add 3,000 jobs to the area as it expands, received the largest incentive package in state history, at nearly $1 billion from state and local governments. Google, which plans to add 1,000 jobs or more in Durham, did not ask for incentives.

This story was produced with financial support from a coalition of partners led by Innovate Raleigh as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work. Learn more; go to bit.ly/newsinnovate.