Abstract

Economies are dependent on both the sustaining power of established businesses and the development of innovative business concepts in young new companies. This is best exemplified in the pharmaceutical industry. Here, in the right financing environment, smaller newly formed entities with the right financial backing can take on higher risks with low or no profits far more easily than can mature and profitable businesses. Newly formed businesses have the potential to become giant corporations that could contribute significantly to the economies of the future as markets and technologies change. In this evolving situation, such companies also have the advantage of being able to adapt quickly. Entrepreneurs play an important role in these new companies, especially in the biotechnology industry, and it is important that countries that wish to further entrepreneurialism should develop an economic regime that encourages them to become serial entrepreneurs - and business angels. Methods of achieving this include rewarding those who take risks. This has become an issue in the UK, where capital gains tax changes are to include imposing higher taxes on entrepreneurs who sell their businesses. The entrepreneurial environment in the UK could be seriously affected by these changes, particularly where the risks are higher, as in the biotech sector.

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