Britain's negotiations over leaving the EU have not even begun and already European countries are vying to host the new headquarters of the London-based European Medicines Agency (EMA), with Sweden officially launching a campaign to become the the home for the prized regulator.

The Swedish Government asserted that, as a consequence of Brexit, the EMA would have to move from its London headquarters and that Sweden would make a good based for the drugs agency, which employs more than 900 staff.

"With one of Europe's top national medicines agencies, an excellent climate for research and life science as well as good conditions for an efficient relocation, Sweden is a good future home for the EMA," said Gabriel Wikström, Sweden's minister for health care.

It is widely expected that the EMA will have to relocate after the UK exits the EU, although there is hope among some in the industry that the agency would be able to remain in London.

"If Britain really does leave the EU, the message we get from Continental Europeans is very clear that the EMA cannot remain in London, it is a fundamentally an EU institution," said John Rountree, a director of pharmaceutical consultants Novasecta.

"But I think some pharma executives in the UK are perhaps still hoping that there will be some way of arranging it to remain."