Abbott and Merck Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Abbott and Merck - Essay Example In the United States, there are several regulatory bodies that such companies would have to deal with. While their financial operations as well as advertising methods are regulated by other bodies, even their basic operations of researching and producing medicine are heavily regulated. The Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration, National Institute of Health, Center for Disease Control and even the National Science Foundation can have an impact on how pharmaceutical companies operate (DHHS, 2007). At the same time, some organizations have more regulatory control than others. For example, the FDA is one body which has the most control over regulations that can force pharmaceutical companies to operate one way or the other. The FDA comes under the Department of Health and Human Services which gives the FDA broad guidelines to follow. The FDA is the actual authority which makes the rules that drug companies have to follow. These regulations impact much more than medicine since food, dietary supplements, cosmetics, medicinal products for use in health care as well as medical implements are regulated by the FDA (FDA, 2007). For pharmaceutical companies, the basic regulations start from food and dietary supplements that may be produced by these companies such as Vitamin C tablets or folic acid pills that may not require prescriptions in many cases. However, in many cases these products may be treated as food in which case there is a strong labeling requirement of the FDA which regulates the producers as to what information needs to be on the packaging of the product (FDA, 2007). For example, as an industry regulation, the producers of dietary supplements are allowed to make claims as to the benefits of their products but they cannot make a claim that their supplements can prevent or cure a disease. At the same time, supplements are not heavily regulated and action against the producers of supplements can