NoA Health has appointed Louisa Lee as CEO, putting the former Novo Nordisk and Pfizer employee at the head of the creative agency’s push to take its business global.
Copenhagen-based NoA Health works with Danish biopharma companies including ALK, Novo Nordisk and Lundbeck. But the agency does more business with drugmakers based outside its home country, with overseas clients including Cytiva, GSK and Otsuka accounting for 60% of its revenues. Led by Lee, NoA Health is stepping up its pursuit of international business.
“We’re moving from being a Nordic-based startup agency to a growth-driven international player,” Lee said in a statement. “We already have a strong international footprint, but now we’re ready to raise our ambitions further.”
Lee co-founded NoA Health with Kim Schaumann Johansen and Patrick Potosky in 2019. Having worked as chief commercial officer, Lee has replaced Johansen as CEO of the agency. NoA Health named Potosky chief commercial officer with executive responsibilities as part of the leadership changes. Potosky said NoA Health will strengthen existing relationships and expand its offering in a push to scale the agency.
The agency is part of NoA, which says it is the largest network in the Nordic region within marketing, tech and innovation. Also called The North Alliance, the network employs about 1,200 people in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Poland and contains about 15 companies including NoA Health. NoA said the model allows agencies to scale globally while complying with pharma regulations.
Lee helped drive NoA’s health expansion by building on experience gained at Pfizer and Novo, where she worked on the company’s first GLP-1 therapy and directed brand strategy across European affiliates. NoA Health’s projects with Novo include a campaign for World Children’s Day 2021. To raise awareness of Novo’s work with UNICEF, NoA Health created materials including a video to discuss childhood obesity.