Final answer:
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America enforces ethical guidelines to prevent unethical practices and ensure the balance between profits and the public good in the development of new drugs.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America sets guidelines for its member firms to discourage and prevent unethical practices. In this context, ethical guidelines and self-regulation play a critical role. The organization is promoting ethical behavior in the pharmaceutical industry, which includes ensuring that the development of new drugs not only is profitable but also meets a high utility for the public good. This aligns with the same ethos as the American Sociological Association, which has established a set of guidelines for ethical and responsible scholarship and research in sociology, ensuring no harm comes to study participants.
While ensuring safety and efficacy of drugs, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) imposes regulations that may delay the market entry of new drugs. This safeguarding measure benefits the public by protecting them from unsafe medications but has the side effect of slowing the availability of potentially life-saving drugs. It is this balance between public interest and corporate profitability that the guidelines aim to manage. Ethical self-regulation seeks to prevent scenarios like the one involving Mylan, where FDA corruption was uncovered, demonstrating the importance of oversight.