Company Overview

Sierra Sciences, LLC. (Sierra) is a biotechnology company whose goal is to develop medicines and therapies that will reverse the effects of human aging; enabling people to live longer lives, with health and vigor, free of many of the debilitating effects of old age. Sierra is now (and intends to remain) at the forefront of efforts to uncover the genetic factors that determine human lifespan and design appropriate interventions to extend and enhance human lifespan and healthspan.

Near-Term Mission

Sierra's near-term mission is to develop a medicine that will activate the expression of telomerase in normal somatic cells. Sierra's founder and Vice President Research & Development, Dr. William H. Andrews, was one of the principal discoverers of the telomerase gene.  He was awarded 2nd place as "National Inventor of the Year" in 1997 for this discovery, and his name appears on numerous related patents and publications.  Under Dr. Andrews' direction, Sierra has discovered and filed additional patent applications on many key elements of the transcriptional regulation of telomerase, including DNA transcription factor binding sites and transcription factors.  Sierra is now pursuing multiple approaches towards its goal of transiently expressing telomerase in normal cells, including high-throughput screening and other drug discovery efforts.  The section "Background of the Science" explains this near-term mission and its implications.