Denmark submits bid to host European Medicines Agency ahead of Monday’s deadline

Over 20 bids expected, but many are already lame ducks according to an analysis

Denmark has officially submitted its bid for Copenhagen to host the European Medicines Agency (EMA) once it leaves London due to the Brexit vote.

READ MORE: Artfully thrifty: Let the battle begin between the EU member states vying for EMA

The bid reveals that the agency would be housed in Copenhagen Towers in the Ørestad region of Copenhagen, which is just ten minutes’ travel time from Copenhagen Airport.

In addition, the agency would be the beneficiary of rent-free housing for two decades.

A well-prepared bid
Ahead of the deadline tonight, business interest group Dansk Erhverv has hailed the government’s “good and well-prepared bid” for the EU agency, commending the Danish capital’s close proximity to an international airport and one of Europe’s largest life science clusters.

In total, as many as 23 bids are expected, with Denmark’s sternest competition coming from Ireland, France, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Denmark and Austria, according to a recent analysis by Politico.

Germany is reportedly only making a bid as leverage to land the other Brexit spoil up for grabs, the European Banking Agency.

Strong life science cluster
In 2015, the Danish life science cluster had a total turnover of 147 billion kroner –some 22,000 people are employed in Denmark’s pharmaceutical industry alone – and much has also been made of the strength of the sector across the Øresund in southern Sweden.

The agency would bring 900 jobs to the region – of which many will be current employees relocating from London – while an estimated 3,000 experts working in association with the EMA are expected to make frequent trips.

“Denmark can offer a smooth move to the agency, ensuring the EMA can continue to perform its tasks and ensure European patients continue to have quick access to the latest and most innovative drugs,” said Katrina Feilberg Schouenborg, the head of health policy at Dansk Erhverv.

Denmark, whose bid was adjudged to be the second best by the Dutch service company KPMG on behalf of the Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk in early May, will learn whether it has been successful in November.

TOP STORIES

  • Chinese wind turbine companies sign pact to end race-to-the-bottom price war

    Chinese wind turbine companies sign pact to end race-to-the-bottom price war

    China’s 12 leading wind turbine makers have signed a pact to end a domestic price war that has seen turbines sold at below cost price in a race to corner the market and which has compromised quality and earnings in the sector.

  • Watch Novo Nordisk’s billion-kroner musical TV ad for Wegovy

    Watch Novo Nordisk’s billion-kroner musical TV ad for Wegovy

    Novo Nordisk’s TV commercial for the slimming drug Wegovy has been shown roughly 32,000 times and reached 8.8 billion US viewers since June.

  • Retention is the new attraction

    Retention is the new attraction

    Many people every year choose to move to Denmark and Denmark in turn spends a lot of money to attract and retain this international talent. Are they staying though? If they leave, do they go home or elsewhere? Looking at raw figures, we can see that Denmark is gradually becoming more international but not everyone is staying. 

  • Defence Minister: Great international interest in Danish military technology

    Defence Minister: Great international interest in Danish military technology

    Denmark’s Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen attended the Association of the Unites States Army’s annual expo in Washington DC from 14 to 16 October, together with some 20 Danish leading defence companies, where he says Danish drone technology attracted significant attention.

  • Doctors request opioids in smaller packs as over-prescription wakes abuse concerns

    Doctors request opioids in smaller packs as over-prescription wakes abuse concerns

    Doctors, pharmacies and politicians have voiced concern that the pharmaceutical industry’s inability to supply opioid prescriptions in smaller packets, and the resulting over-prescription of addictive morphine pills, could spur levels of opioid abuse in Denmark.

  • Housing in Copenhagen – it runs in the family

    Housing in Copenhagen – it runs in the family

    Residents of cooperative housing associations in Copenhagen and in Frederiksberg distribute vacant housing to their own family members to a large extent. More than one in six residents have either parents, siblings, adult children or other close family living in the same cooperative housing association.

Connect club

Connect Club is your gateway to a vibrant programme of events and an international community in Denmark.

Sign up here

Career

  • Come and join us at Citizens Days!

    Come and join us at Citizens Days!

    On Friday 27 and Saturday 28 of September, The Copenhagen Post will be at International Citizen Days in Øksnehallen on Vesterbro, Copenhagen. Admission is free and thousands of internationals are expected to attend

  • Diversifying the Nordics: How a Nigerian economist became a beacon for inclusivity in Scandinavia

    Diversifying the Nordics: How a Nigerian economist became a beacon for inclusivity in Scandinavia

    Chisom Udeze, the founder of Diversify – a global organization that works at the intersection of inclusion, democracy, freedom, climate sustainability, justice, and belonging – shares how struggling to find a community in Norway motivated her to build a Nordic-wide professional network. We also hear from Dr. Poornima Luthra, Associate Professor at CBS, about how to address bias in the workplace.

  • Lolland Municipality launches support package for accompanying spouses

    Lolland Municipality launches support package for accompanying spouses

    Lolland Municipality, home to Denmark’s largest infrastructure project – the Fehmarnbelt tunnel connection to Germany – has launched a new jobseeker support package for the accompanying partners of international employees in the area. The job-to-partner package offers free tailored sessions on finding a job and starting a personal business.

Want to advertise your job with CPH Post?

Contact us

Jobs