The pharmaceutical industry argues that because new drugs will not be developed unless heavy development costs can be recouped in later sales, the current 20 years of protection provided by patents should be extended in the case of newly developed drugs. However, in other industries new-product development continues despite high development costs, a fact that indicates that the extension is unnecessary.
Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the pharmaceutical industry’s argument against the challenge made above?
(A) No industries other than the pharmaceutical industry have asked for an extension of the 20-year limit on patent protection.
(B) Clinical trials of new drugs, which occur after the patent is granted and before the new drug can be marketed, often now take as long as 10 years to complete.
(C) There are several industries in which the ratio of research and development costs to revenues is higher than it is in the pharmaceutical industry.
(D) An existing patent for a drug does not legally prevent pharmaceutical companies from bringing to market alternative drugs, provided they are sufficiently dissimilar to the patented drug.
(E) Much recent industrial innovation has occurred in products—for example, in the computer and electronics industries—for which patent protection is often very ineffective.
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(A) No industries other than the pharmaceutical industry have asked for an extension of the 20-year limit on patent protection. - irrelevant

(B) Clinical trials of new drugs, which occur after the patent is granted and before the new drug can be marketed, often now take as long as 10 years to complete. - correct

(C) There are several industries in which the ratio of research and development costs to revenues is higher than it is in the pharmaceutical industry. - we are not talking abt other industries

(D) An existing patent for a drug does not legally prevent pharmaceutical companies from bringing to market alternative drugs, provided they are sufficiently dissimilar to the patented drug. - this actually weakens the phramaceutical industry's claim.

(E) Much recent industrial innovation has occurred in products—for example, in the computer and electronics industries—for which patent protection is often very ineffective. - we are not talking abt other industries

I think B is the only one that further supports the claim by pharmaceutical companies that patent protections should be extended further than 20 years. The fact that it takes 10 years to finish clinical trials which is half the time that patents are protected for.

OA is B.

Of the 20 years, only half are effective so it is ok for these companies to ask for an extension.
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yes it is
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Yes. I usually post LSAT question (I promise more very soon!). This one was an exception!
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B is the answer.
This is an OG 12 Question. and the OA there is also B.

I also think is b; it logically supports the extension of the patent

B

+1 B.
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