Management
Sequoia’s team possesses depth of experience in managing successful scientific and business operations.
The versatile R&D team is anchored by a multidisciplinary core of scientists consisting of chemists, biochemists, structural biologists, molecular biologists, and virologists familiar with the novel technologies and ideas on which Sequoia was founded.
John W. Erickson, Ph.D.
John Erickson, Ph.D., CSO, is a recognized leader in the field of drug discovery. He co-founded Sequoia in December 2001 to develop marketable therapeutic solutions to the urgent and growing threat to public health posed by drug-resistant viral, bacterial and fungal diseases, with an initial emphasis on HIV/AIDS. Dr. Erickson has previously spearheaded innovative drug discovery programs in the pharmaceutical, government and biotechnology sectors that have resulted in the development of two drugs, Ritonavir and Lopinavir at Abbott Laboratories, and of TMC-114, now JNJ's Prezista(R).
Dr. Erickson has authored or co-authored over 140 scientific publications, and is a co-inventor on over twenty (20) patents in the field of drug discovery. He established and directed the first multi-disciplinary antiviral drug discovery program at Abbott Laboratories, which led directly to the development of Ritonavir – the world’s first protease inhibitor for AIDS treatment developed using structure-based design methods. Dr. Erickson joined the National Cancer Institute in 1991, where he directed the Biomedical Supercomputing Center, and established the Structural Biochemistry Program, a multi-disciplinary research program focused on structure-based drug design. In 2000, Dr. Erickson established Tibotec, Inc., a U.S. affiliate of Tibotec-Virco Group NV. While at Tibotec, he spearheaded the development of TMC-114, a protease inhibitor, which was acquired by Johnson & Johnson and is in Phase II clinical trials. His research has spawned numerous drug discovery applications and spans therapeutic markets from HIV/AIDS and infectious diseases to cancer, and other life-threatening diseases. Erickson’s innovative vision and leadership in identifying drug discovery opportunities has resulted in drug candidates that have amassed revenues of over $1B in sales for his former companies.