Critical Reasoning

Generic drugs contain exactly the same active ingredients as their brand name counterparts, but usually cost much less to develop, produce and market. So, generic drugs are just as effective as their brand-name counterparts, but cost considerably less.

Which of the following if true most strengthens the argument?

(A) The ingredients used in the manufacture of brand name drugs cost no more than the ingredients used to produce their generic counterparts.
(B) Generic drugs are just as likely as brand-name drugs to be readily available in pharmacies.
(C) Generic drugs are no more likely than brand-name drugs to suffer from defects in composition.
(D) The higher cost of brand-name drugs underwrite drug companies' heavy investment in research.
(E) Because of advertising, doctors frequently prescribe brand-name drugs by their brand-name, rather than by their chemical name.

OA after some discussion.

IMO - D

charu_mahajan wrote:
Which of the following if true most strengthens the argument?

The conclusion to be strengthened is generic drugs are just as effective as their brand-name counterparts, but cost considerably less

D only implies that there is another reason for the cost of generic drugs to be lower than that of brand-name ones.

C strengthens the conslusion the most by discounting the possibility that generic durgs are not worse than brand-name drugs wrt to composition and as such may be equally effective.

C wins

C it is friends. OA is C !!

Can anyone help to get the correct answer I am stuck at A

veenu08 wrote:Can anyone help to get the correct answer I am stuck at A

Conclusion talks about effectiveness

(A) The ingredients used in the manufacture of brand name drugs cost no more than the ingredients used to produce their generic counterparts. - Talks only about cost. Doesn't give any relationship between cost and effectiveness. We can't decide anything !

(C) Generic drugs are no more likely than brand-name drugs to suffer from defects in composition. - It talks about defects. Hence, it is giving more info on the effectiveness of the drug. Hence, the Answer !

I think, you are assuming some relationship b/w cost & effectiveness. Acc to A, Brand name <= Generic ONLY in cost !

Hope this helps !

E

Hi Vaisagr and Veenu08,
Option C is the only option out of all choices which strengthens the argument.

Generic drugs are just as effective as their brand-name counterparts, but cost considerably less.
We can strengthen the argument by 2 ways:
1) showing that generic drugs are effective as compare to counterparts.
2) showing that it costs considerably less.

Option C helps us in strengthening the argument using choice 1)
Other options does not show the link with choice 2) as no option is related to cost.

So our option is C.

Generic drugs are no more likely than brand-name drugs to suffer from defects in composition.

Generic drugs are just as effective as their counterparts.

vaisagr wrote:E

veenu08 wrote:Can anyone help to get the correct answer I am stuck at A