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Intern
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The new drug Prozac and the old one Elavil are about equally [#permalink]
 09 Dec 2003, 05:31
Question Stats:
0% (00:00) correct
100% (01:19) wrong based on 1 sessions
The new drug Prozac and the old one Elavil are about equally effective in treating various forms of depression, although patients on the newer drug may have slightly fewer side effects. Thus, revenue from the sale of the new drug is going to far exceed the revenue from the sale of the old drug.
All of the following statements weaken the conclusion of the argument above, EXCEPT:
(A) Elavil is also used as a powerful anti-emetic medicine.
(B) The Drug Control Authorities in six states have refused to allow the sale of Prozac till some more tests are carried out.
(C) Some side effects of Elavil are common to Prozac as well.
(D) Prozac is not recommended as an anti-depressant for diabetics and heart patients.
(E) The unit sale price of Elavil is higher than that of Prozac.
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SVP
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E, in fact, strengthens the conclusion.
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Intern
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I found the same.
But the official answer given is C.
Can anyone figure out why??
Gaurav.
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Senior Manager
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source please? because E looks good to me too.
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Intern
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Their explaination is as follows:
Explanation
The logic in the given argument is pretty weak : just because drug A is as effective as drug B for a particular cure, and has fewer side effects, does not mean that revenue from drug A is going to be more.
The old drug might still sell more if it has an alternate use (option A), or if sale of the new drug is not allowed in certain regions (option B), or if the new drug`s usage is restricted (option D), or if the sale price of drug B is higher (option E).
All these can be possible reasons for revenues from sale of drug B to be as high, or higher, from those of drug A.
Option C, however, offers no such reason, and is the right answer.
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Senior Manager
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source please!
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Intern
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crack-gmat
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Senior Manager
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4128851 wrote: The new drug Prozac and the old one Elavil are about equally effective in treating various forms of depression, although patients on the newer drug may have slightly fewer side effects. Thus, revenue from the sale of the new drug is going to far exceed the revenue from the sale of the old drug.
All of the following statements weaken the conclusion of the argument above, EXCEPT:
(A) Elavil is also used as a powerful anti-emetic medicine.
(B) The Drug Control Authorities in six states have refused to allow the sale of Prozac till some more tests are carried out.
(C) Some side effects of Elavil are common to Prozac as well.
(D) Prozac is not recommended as an anti-depressant for diabetics and heart patients.
(E) The unit sale price of Elavil is higher than that of Prozac.
The stimulus says "revenue from the sale of the new drug" i.e total revenues.
Option E does not weaken the argument, in fact, it does not alter the argument in any way, since we are concerned about the total revenues not the unit prices. If the number of units sold of the new drug (Prozac) more than that of the old drug (Elavil), the total revenues of the new drug will be greater.
Only option C gives a possible reason why consumers may not shift to the new drug. Since both share some side effects all consumers with those side effects have no reason to switch to the new drug (Prozac)
C is the best answer.
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Senior Manager
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good explanation asandeep. Accepted!
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Intern
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Ufff......Interesting!!!!
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Senior Manager
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I found answer E flawed. It could either strenghten or weaken the argument depending on the elasticity of the demand for this medicines (information for which is not provided).
What I mean is that a lower price always makes you sell more quantities of a product (law of demand), but total revenues depends on how much more you actually sell because of the decrease in price (elasticity).
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Martin--
Just because the GMAT is a B-school test doesn't mean you're supposed to use that fancy brain of yours to apply economic principles.
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