Ajinomoto Althea announced that Bert Barbosa and Darwin Richardson, MBA, have joined Althea as Vice President of Drug Product Manufacturing and Vice President of Compliance, respectively. Both Barbosa and Richardson bring leadership experience in bio-pharmaceutical manufacturing and quality operations to Althea, as the company expands their contract development and manufacturing operation (CDMO) and capabilities globally in conjunction with its integration with sister company, small molecule API manufacturer Ajinomoto OmniChem.
"We are excited to welcome both Darwin and Bert to our leadership team at Althea," said J. David Enloe, Jr., President and CEO of Althea. "Between them, they bring more than 60 years of commitment to manufacturing excellence, product quality and improving patients' lives. Darwin and Bert will bring tremendous value to our organization as we begin operating Ajinomoto Althea, Ajinomoto OmniChem, and ultimately the other Ajinomoto entities focused on the life science market as a single, global CDMO. This unified organization will better serve our clients by offering more complex manufacturing infrastructure to address diversifying product pipelines."
Barbosa brings considerable experience in bio-pharmaceutical production, quality assurance and compliance. Barbosa joins Althea after 10 years at Allergan, most recently as Director QA/QC, Drug Substance Operations. Prior to Allergan, he held a broad range of positions as Director, Development Quality and Director, Quality Manufacturing at Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Director of Parental Operations and Quality at Chiron Corporation, and Director of QA at Vical.
Richardson has over 25 years of quality operations and regulatory compliance leadership to Althea. Most recently, Richardson served as Senior Vice President of Quality and Regulatory Affairs at BPL Plasma. Prior to that, he was the Vice President of Quality at Sanofi Genzyme. Prior to Sanofi, Richardson held quality and operations positions of increasing responsibility at Baxter Healthcare for over 10 years, including Plant Manager, Sr. Director of Manufacturing, Sr. Director of Quality Operations and Director of Quality Control Laboratories.