Ajinomoto Althea, Inc. Announces Additions to Management Team as it transforms into a global CDMO

- SAN DIEGO, May 31, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Ajinomoto Althea, Inc. ("Althea"), a leading contract development and manufacturing service organization, announced today that Bert Barbosa and Darwin Richardson, MBA, have joined Althea as Vice President of Drug Product Manufacturing and Vice President of Compliance, respectively. Both Mr. Barbosa and Mr. Richardson bring extensive 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." Mr. Barbosa brings considerable experience in bio-pharmaceutical production, quality assurance and compliance.  Mr. 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, Inc. Mr. Richardson has over 25 years of quality operations and regulatory compliance leadership to Althea. Most recently, Mr. 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, Mr. 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.  About Ajinomoto Althea, Inc. Althea is a fully integrated, contract development and manufacturing organization located in San Diego, CA providing clinical and commercial product development services. Althea offers cGMP drug product filling in both vials and syringes, and production of microbial-derived recombinant proteins and plasmid DNA. In conjunction with these manufacturing operations, Althea offers comprehensive development services including: upstream and downstream process development, analytical development, complex formulation, product release and ICH-compliant stability testing. Althea's formulation technology platform includes Crystalomics®, a proprietary technology that offers a formulation solution for large molecule products that must be delivered at high concentrations or as sustained release formulations. Althea also has an innovative and proven recombinant protein expression technology called Corynex® technology. For more information visit us at www.altheaCMO.com About Ajinomoto OmniChem, N.V. Ajinomoto OmniChem, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ajinomoto Co. Inc., Japan, is a Belgian headquartered contract manufacturing organization and has been active in producing fine chemicals for the pharmaceutical field for more than 40 years. The OmniChem division positions itself as a leader in pharmaceutical fine chemicals with focus on process and analytical development in support of manufacturing of API's and intermediates. Besides its innovative technology offering and ability to rapidly scale from pilot to commercial scale, OmniChem offers customers a high level of quality and service to meet the demands and expectations of today's pharmaceutical world. Learn more: www.omnichem.com Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/171352/ajinomoto_althea_inc_logo.jpg