Headcount at ​Vertex surges in 2016, hitting four-year high

Boston-based Vertex Pharmaceuticals, one of the largest life science companies headquartered in Massachusetts, has eclipsed the 2,000 employee mark for the first time in four years, according to a federal filing.Vertex (Nasdaq: VRTX) disclosed in its annual filing on Thursday that it had approximately 2,150 total employees as of the end of 2016. Of those, around 1,725 were based in the U.S. — mostly at its building in the Seaport — while 350 were in Europe and 75 were in Canada.The l