dkumar.83 wrote:Advertisement: For sinus pain, three out of four hospitals give their patients Novex. So when you want the most effective painkiller for sinus pain, Novex is the one to choose.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously undermines the advertisement's argument?
(A) Some competing brands of painkillers are intended to reduce other kinds of pain in addition to sinus pain.
(B) Many hospitals that do not usually use Novex will do so for those patients who cannot tolerate the drug the hospitals usually use.
(C) Many drug manufacturers increase sales of their products to hospitals by selling these products to the hospitals at the lowest price the manufacturers can afford.
(D) Unlike some competing brands of painkillers, Novex is available from pharmacies without a doctor's prescription.
(E) In clinical trials Novex has been found more effective than competing brands of painkillers that have been on the market longer than Novex.
Conclusion: Novex is the most effective painkiller for sinus pain.
Premise: 3 out of 4 hospital gives their patients Novex
Assumption: giving Novex = effective. The argument is connecting these two ideas. It assumes that if the hospitals give out Novex, the drug must be effective.
Predict how to weaken: Show that the hospitals give out Novex for another reason or that the drug isn't effective.
(A) Some competing brands of painkillers are intended to reduce other kinds of pain in addition to sinus pain.
Outside the scope; the argument is only about Novex, not about other painkillers, and only about sinus pain, not about other kinds of pain. Also, avoid the word some in weaken questions. Some could mean as few as one.
(B) Many hospitals that do not usually use Novex will do so for those patients who cannot tolerate the drug the hospitals usually use.
Doesn't weaken enough. How many hospitals do not usually use Novex? No way to tell, so this answer could be discussing only a few hospitals, not enough to sufficiently weaken the conclusion.
(C) Many drug manufacturers increase sales of their products to hospitals by selling these products to the hospitals at the lowest price the manufacturers can afford.
Correct. This answer suggests another reason that the hospitals give out Novex: because it's cheap.
(D) Unlike some competing brands of painkillers, Novex is available from pharmacies without a doctor's prescription.
Irrelevant. Doesn't tell us that Novex is not effective or that hospitals have another reason to give it out. Why would hospitals care whether a prescription is needed? That's what hospitals do: they write prescriptions.
(E) In clinical trials Novex has been found more effective than competing brands of painkillers that have been on the market longer than Novex.
Strengthens. This answer suggests that Novex is effective, the opposite of what we want.
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