Novo Nordisk A/S today announced that Jakob Riis, executive vice president, head of North America Operations and president of Novo Nordisk Inc. has resigned from the company.

Effective today, Doug Langa, senior vice president for Market Access, Novo Nordisk Inc., has been appointed senior vice president, head of North America Operations and president of Novo Nordisk Inc. He will report to Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, president and CEO, Novo Nordisk A/S.   

Jakob Riis will remain with Novo Nordisk in a transition period to help ensure a smooth handover.

“We are of course sad to see Jakob Riis leave,” Göran Ando, chairman of the board of directors of Novo Nordisk A/S, said. “He has done a great job throughout his career in Novo Nordisk, and we wish him all the best. We welcome Doug Langa as our new head of North America Operations. Doug’s experience in the U.S. pharmaceutical market, his leadership skills and expertise in the area of market access make him the natural successor to Jakob Riis.”

Langa is senior vice president, market access and a member of Novo Nordisk’s U.S. leadership team. He joined the company in 2011 as senior director, managed markets.  He came from GlaxoSmithKline where he was senior director of payer marketing. 

Prior to GSK, Langa spent the majority of his career at Johnson & Johnson, where he held various roles of increasing responsibility within managed markets, sales leadership and marketing. He has more than 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and medical device industry. He graduated from Widener University and earned his MBA from Fordham University.

(Source: GlobeNewswire)