PrepTest 105, Section 1, Question 7
Generic drugs contain exactly the same active ingredients(29 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(6 more words not shown)
- AThe ingredients used(18 more words not shown)
- BGeneric drugs are(12 more words not shown)
- CGeneric drugs are(12 more words not shown)
- DThe higher costs(10 more words not shown)
- EBecause of advertising,(15 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Are the active ingredients the only things that matter to effectiveness? Two products could list the same active ingredient while differing in how consistently they are made. Perhaps one has inconsistent doses or defects in its composition. Those are possibilities to investigate, not facts about actual generic drugs.
The passage gives us the lower development, production, and marketing costs. The jump I want to question is from having the same active ingredients to being equally effective. If something else affects how well the drug works, the shared ingredient alone doesn't settle that comparison.
What we’re looking for
Now we need to strengthen the argument. My strongest prediction would be a rule saying that the same active ingredients ensure the same effectiveness. A less sweeping answer could still help by addressing a particular reason to doubt that comparison. We should look for support for the claim, even if the answer doesn't prove everything we might want.
Working the answers
- A
Equal or lower ingredient costs for the brand-name version don't show that the two drugs work equally well. Ingredient expense is also only one part of development, production, and marketing costs. This doesn't connect the shared active ingredients to effectiveness or establish the argument's claimed overall cost advantage for generics.
- BCorrect
This addresses the concern about how the drugs are made. If generics are no more likely to have defects in composition, we lose a reason to think their shared active ingredients might still produce an inferior product.
This isn't the sweeping guarantee I predicted. The answer doesn't say either kind is defect-free, or that nothing else could affect effectiveness. It gives a narrower reassurance about a relevant possible difference. That's still support, and the other choices don't supply a comparable reason to trust the effectiveness claim.
- C
Availability concerns how easily someone can obtain a drug, not how well it works once obtained. Both versions could be stocked in the same pharmacies and still differ in effectiveness. This doesn't address the gap in the reasoning.
- D
This explains a use for the higher costs associated with brand-name drugs. Funding research may have value, but that doesn't establish that these generics work as well as their counterparts. An explanation of where money goes isn't evidence that the products are equally effective.
- E
The name doctors use doesn't determine how well the drug works. Advertising could influence what they call a product whether generics are equally effective or not. We need evidence about the comparison the author makes, not about naming habits.
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