Denmark is the latest country to throw its hat into the ring and offer a post-Brexit home for the European Medicines Agency (EMA). The London-based authority, which employs around 900 people, approves and monitors pharmaceuticals in EU countries but will relocate to another member state when the UK leaves the economic zone.

The Danish government said that with its strong tradition for safeguarding patient safety, an important research environment and a thriving and innovative pharmaceutical industry, the country has excellent preconditions for hosting the Agency. Minister for Foreign Affairs, Anders Samuelsen, commented: “There is no doubt that the competition is tough, but I am convinced that it will be valuable to both the EMA, Denmark and the EU to place the Agency in Copenhagen.”

Major drugmaker Novo Nordisk has publicly backed the campaign and its former CEO Rebien Sorensen has signed up as special envoy for the bid. Copenhagen has joined Amsterdam, Milan, Stockholm and Barcelona in bidding to host the EMA,and more cities are preparing bids.

UK business newspaper the Financial Times reported that expressions of potential interest have been noted from Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Finland, Cyprus, Malta, Greece, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary. Only the Czech Republic and Estonia have ruled themselves out, the FT said, while noting that the European Commission and member states have yet to give any indication on how quickly they will propose to move the EMA.

European leaders have previously suggested that new seats of agencies should be primarily located in states that joined the EU after 2004, or which do not already have an agency, which could favor countries such as Cyprus, Croatia, Bulgaria, Romania or Slovakia. “Forget about solidarity, this will be messy, ugly, everyone for themselves,” a European diplomat working on an EMA bid told the FT.

EMA executive director Guido Rasi has spoken of the need to know the new location sooner rather than later. At a management board meeting last December, Rasi said Brexit could cause significant disruption to the agency’s operations depending on the outcome of negotiations between the EU and the UK. The board said the agency will continue to carry out impact assessments to identify the main risks and propose possible mitigating measures to maintain its ability to protect public health.