Final answer:
The FDA enforces medical regulations to ensure drug safety, which requires companies to test drugs extensively before market release. The clear beneficiaries are consumers, who are protected from unsafe drugs. The less visible losers are patients awaiting new treatments and small pharmaceutical companies hampered by the regulatory burden.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) plays a crucial role in regulating the medicines that are made available in pharmacies across the United States to ensure their safety and efficacy. The pharmacy balance registration/inspection falls under this umbrella, where the FDA enforces laws to validate the purity, effectiveness, and truthful labeling of not only drugs but also food and cosmetics, further overseeing the production and shipment of these products. These stringent regulations necessitate that sometimes a pharmaceutical company may be required to conduct extensive testing on a drug for years before it is allowed on the market.
While the obvious winners of this regulatory system are the consumers, who are safeguarded against unsafe medication, there are also less visible losers in the equation. These losers can include patients who may have benefited from quicker access to new therapies that are delayed due to strict medical regulations, and possibly smaller pharmaceutical companies that may struggle with the financial and temporal demands of the rigorous FDA approval process.
The FDA's Office of Prescription Drug Promotion specifically reviews and regulates prescription drug advertising and promotion, ensuring pharmaceutical companies adhere to rules concerning marketing practices, with the Federal Trade Commission covering over-the-counter drugs.