Q7 - Generic drugs contain exactly

[jh2352]

What answer choice did you come up with, why did you pick it, and why are the other choices wrong.

[rinagoldfield]

Hey jh2352,

Thanks for your post.

This is a strengthen question, so let’s start by examining the argument core.

The premises are:

Generic drugs have the same active ingredients as brand name drugs

+

Generic drugs cost less to develop, produce, and market than brand name drugs.

The conclusion is:

Generic drugs are just as effective as brand name ones, but cost less.

I spot two big gaps in this argument.

First, the argument assumes that generic drugs are just as effective as brand name ones because they have the same active ingredients. To see why this is a flaw, consider this analogy:

All chocolate chip cookies have the same key ingredients of butter, sugar, flour, eggs, salt and chocolate chips.

Therefore...

All chocolate chip cookie are are equally delicious.

^This argument fails to consider that different chocolate chip cookies may use different amounts of the ingredients, or may be baked at different temperatures or for different lengths of time, and that these changes may impact the cookies’ levels of deliciousness.

The original argument fails to consider that generic and brand-name drugs may combine their identical active ingredients with different filler ingredients, or in different amounts, or in different ways, and that these differences may impact the drugs’ levels of effectiveness.

The second flaw is the assumption that generic drugs cost less for the consumer because they cost less for the manufacturer to make and market. But that isn’t necessarily true; manufacturers could charge lots of money for their cheaply-made drugs.

Our task is to try to shrink one of these two gaps. Let’s go to the answer choices.

(A) is irrelevant. We already know that generic drugs cost less to make and market than brand-name drugs do. It doesn’t matter if these savings come from the cost of the ingredients.

(B) seems to speak to the first flaw; let’s hold onto it for now.

(C) might speak to how much the drugs actually cost, so let’s hold onto this one for now, too.

(D) is irrelevant. It doesn’t matter WHY brand names drugs cost more than generic ones. It matters whether they do, and whether they’re more effective.

(E) is also irrelevant. Who cares how doctors prescribe drugs? We want to know if generics are cheap and effective.

So we’re down to (C) and (B).

(C) isn’t a good strengthener. Although it points to the issue of supply, which connects to the issue of cost, we need to bring in too many outside assumptions to make this answer choice a good strengthener. We don’t know how much demand there is for generic drugs. More importantly, we don’t actually know the cost of the drugs here! This one’s out of scope.

(B) directly connects to the first flaw about the effectiveness of generic drugs. The argument assumes that differences in the composition between generic and brand-name drugs don’t correspond to differences in their effectiveness. This answer choice negates that assumption. Answer choice (B) is correct.

Hope that helps!

[mailtojodywood]

A generic drug is a drug that is exactly the same as the brand-name drug, but can only be produced after the brand-name drug's patent has expired.

A generic drug is the same as a brand-name drug in:

dosage
safety
strength
quality
the way it works
the way it is taken
the way it should be used

[noah]

A generic drug is a drug that is exactly the same as the brand-name drug, but can only be produced after the brand-name drug's patent has expired.

A generic drug is the same as a brand-name drug in:

dosage
safety
strength
quality
the way it works
the way it is taken
the way it should be used

Great point (though at first I was worried you were posting this just to sell online pharmaceuticals!). However, since (B) is the answer, we know that the LSAT considers what you've written to be outside knowledge. Apparently--and as is nearly always the case--we're supposed to use only the given premises. Here, those are that generics and name-brand drugs have the "same active ingredients." When I read that, I smelled a gap--why is this talking only about active ingredients?