The government health service has said that it definitely will not pay

Question

The government health service has said that it definitely will not pay for patients to take the influenza medicine Antinfia until the drug's manufacturer, PharmCo, provides detailed information about Antinfia's cost effectiveness. PharmCo has responded that obtaining such information would require massive clinical trials. These trials cannot be performed until the drug is in widespread circulation, something that will happen only if the goverrunent health service pays for Antinfia.

If the statements of both the government health service and PharmCo are true, which one of the following is most likely to also be true?

(A) The goverrunent health service never pays for any medicine unless that medicine has been shown to be cost-effective.
(B) Antinfia will never be in widespread circulation.
(C) If the government health service does not pay for Antinfia, then many patients will pay for Antinfia themselves.
(D) The government health service should pay for patients to take Antinfia.
(E) Antinfia is not cost-effective.

Source: LSAT

Carcass · Answer

Due to its circular reasoning, the only valid option is B. Actually, the drug will not be on the market.

However, notice how this is for LSAT but is not so much suitable for GMAT. The wording of an official question (especially in the latest OGs) is quite different.

Regards

AkshdeepS · Answer

Not able to understand and infer properly. Though this is an LSAT question, there must me correct reasoning for the right answer.

Please help and also let us know whether such questions can be tested on GMAT or not.

VeritasPrepKarishma ,  GMATNinja

KarishmaB · Answer

Yes, the reasoning is proper.

Argument tells us:

- Govt says it will not pay for Antinfia until PharmCo provides details on cost effectiveness.
- PharmCo says it can provide these details only if the Govt pays for Antinfia.

So basically they are caught in a circle. Hence, if both these statements are assumed to be true, the Govt will not pay for Antinfia and it will never be in widespread circulation (since the Govt needs to pay for it to be in widespread circulation). So (B) is correct.

(A) The goverrunent health service never pays for any medicine unless that medicine has been shown to be cost-effective.
We don't know this. We only know that they have refused to pay for Antinfia until its cost effectiveness is proven.

(C) If the government health service does not pay for Antinfia, then many patients will pay for Antinfia themselves.
We don't know what patients will do. Out of scope.

(D) The government health service should pay for patients to take Antinfia.
Should or should not is not our call. We need to find what is true according to argument.

(E) Antinfia is not cost-effective.
The argument doesn't say that. PharmCo just needs widespread circulation to prove that it is cost-effective.

balaji4799 · Answer

The stimulus basically means, government doesn't give money if the drug is not cost effective and company can't say the drug is cost effective until government gives money. So they have reached an impasse. This means the drug will never get a widespread circulation. option B.

Bombsante · Answer

If I am not wrong must be true Qs are inference type of Qs. The process of elimination makes it easy to identify the answer choices in this Q:

(A) The goverrunent health service never pays for any medicine unless that medicine has been shown to be cost-effective.  (Not necessary, nowhere in the passage such a thing has been stated) 
(B) Antinfia will never be in widespread circulation.  (not convincing in the first go but very much possible. Only choice that remains after POE) 
(C) If the government health service does not pay for Antinfia, then many patients will pay for Antinfia themselves.  (again nowhere in the passage it is even hinted that patient would pay for themselves) 
(D) The government health service should pay for patients to take Antinfia.  (The whole argument would not exist if this were true) 
(E) Antinfia is not cost-effective.  (again nowhere in the passage such a thing is indicated)

jerryharlands · Answer

If the statements of both the government health service and PharmCo are true, then the most likely conclusion is that Antinfia will never be in widespread circulation (B). This is because the government will not pay for it without cost-effectiveness data, and PharmCo cannot obtain that data without the drug being widely used.

Raman109 · Answer

Understanding the argument - 
The government health service has said that it definitely will not pay for patients to take the influenza medicine Antinfia until the drug's manufacturer, PharmCo, provides detailed information about Antinfia's cost effectiveness. - Requirement by the govt. They'll not pay until the manufacturer provides info about cost-effectiveness.

PharmCo has responded that obtaining such information would require massive clinical trials. These trials cannot be performed until the drug is in widespread circulation, something that will happen only if the goverrunent health service pays for Antinfia. - Basically it says that "the govt paying is the minimum condition to conduct massive clinical trials to share this information." But the 1st statement says that this minimum condition will not be met. So, it's logical to conclude that this drug will not enter widespread circulation.

If the statements of both the government health service and PharmCo are true, which one of the following is most likely to also be true?

(A) The goverrunent health service never pays for any medicine unless that medicine has been shown to be cost-effective. - hyperbolic. 
(B) Antinfia will never be in widespread circulation. - Yes. 
(C) If the government health service does not pay for Antinfia, then many patients will pay for Antinfia themselves. - This is a might be true. We need "must be true" "100% true." This statement is speculative and doesn't touch on the scope of the argument regarding circulation. - out of scope. 
(D) The government health service should pay for patients to take Antinfia. - out of scope.
(E) Antinfia is not cost-effective. - out of scope.

VerbalBot · Answer

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The government health service has said that it definitely will not pay

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