A pharmaceutical company has come under public scrutiny for manufactur

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

Overview:

In this question, the student is given information about a pharmaceutical company that has manufactured a controversial drug and is attempting to market it. The studies that have been done on the drug indicate that it does offer the results claimed but that it also creates serious side effects. After more testing, the CEO of the pharmaceutical company makes a statement that the drug is safe and will be marketed and sold with the approval of the FDA. The question asks the student to select the answer choice that most seriously undermines the statements made by the CEO of the pharmaceutical company. Each answer choice will have to be considered individually, but there are several points within the passage on which the student needs to focus: (1) the drug is controversial and has potentially serious side effects, (2) the pharmaceutical company has done further testing, and (3) the CEO does not actually claim that the FDA has approved the drug but that it will be marketed and sold “with the approval of the FDA.” This final point might be the most significant, since the CEO’s wording is suspiciously confusing—“with the approval of the FDA” suggests a conditional approval that could affect the safety of the drug and the ability of the pharmaceutical company to market it legally.

The Correct Answer:

E As suggested in the Overview above, answer choice (E) offers a statement that indicates a conditional approval from the FDA. This approval is based on the altering of ingredients in the drug, and there is nothing to indicate that the company has altered the ingredients. So the drug would probably not be safe, and the CEO is making claims that seem to be deliberately obscure. Answer choice (E) is correct.

The Incorrect Answers:

A Although previous behavior may indicate future actions, there is no guarantee that just because the company has lied in the past it is lying again. Answer choice (A) offers far too tenuous a reason to undermine the CEO’s claims, so it is not correct.

B The presence of government money is largely irrelevant to the accuracy of the CEO’s claims in this case. Furthermore, if the company were receiving government money, it is more likely that they would be willing to make the drug as safe as possible since someone else would be paying the bill, and the company would be required to submit to yet another level of government oversight. Answer choice (B) actually functions more in support of the CEO’s claims, so it is not correct.

C As in answer choice (A), the fact that the board of the pharmaceutical company is being investigated for marketing fraud does not necessarily mean that they are committing marketing fraud in this case. The connection between the two events is too uncertain to be valid, so answer choice (C) is incorrect.

D The fact that another pharmaceutical company is in the process of manufacturing a similar drug does more to support the CEO’s claims than to undermine them, because the original pharmaceutical company would be more likely to produce a safe drug with a competitor on the market. Answer choice (D) is also incorrect.