Novo Nordisk boss named world’s top-performing CEO

Novo Nordisk's chief executive officer (CEO) Lars Rebien Sorensen has been named as the top-performing chief executive in the world.

Harvard Business Review's list of the 100 best-performing chief executives ranked Mr Sorenson in first place for his company's financial prowess, as well as its strong performance on environmental, social and governance measures, reports Pharmafile.

Since he joined Novo Nordisk in 2000, the firm has delivered more than a tenfold return to shareholders, with its market capitalisation growing by $169 billion (109.08 billion pounds) to reach more than $356 billion.

In purely financial terms, he came sixth out of the 907 chief executives analysed, with the business's strong corporate citizenship commitment pushing him to the top of the list.

Mr Sorenson said: "Corporate social responsibility is nothing but maximising the value of your company over a long period. In the long term, social and environmental issues become financial issues."

This comes after the firm achieved a nominal year-on-year sales increase of 25 percent during the first half of 2015, thanks to the good performance of several key products.