Private equity firm EQT, which acquired Certara for $850 million in 2017, will continue to own majority stake in the company, which was formed in 2008 after biotechnology firm Tripos International bought Pharsight Corp.

Certara's initial public offering (IPO) comes as almost half of the U.S. listings came from the healthcare sector, data from IPOScoop shows.

Shares in Certara opened at $29.9 on the Nasdaq, above the initial public offering (IPO) price of $23 per share at which it raised about $670 million.

Certara provides pharmaceutical companies with computer-based drug trials using virtual patients rather than human beings - a technology known as "biosimulation".

"Certara's technology has had a huge influence in most drugs that have been approved and in the next five years we hope to speed up the time drugs get to patients," William Feehery, Certara's chief executive said in an interview.

It says more than 1,600 biopharmaceutical firms and academic institutions in 60 countries use its platform.

Certara earned $5 million in the nine months to the end of September, versus a loss of $2.9 million in the same period last year. It had debt of $379.2 million at the end of September.

(Reporting by Vishwadha Chander in Bengaluru and Chibuike Oguh in New York; Editing by Amy Caren Daniel and Alexander Smith)

By Vishwadha Chander and Chibuike Oguh