Self-study
In a recent study, researchers collected current prices for the 300 most common pharmaceutical drugs from the leading wholesalers specializing in bulk sales. ██ ███ █████ ████ █████ ██████ ███████ ██ ██ ██ ███████ █████ ███ █████████ █████████ ██████ ██████ ███ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ ███████ ██████ ███████ ██ █ ██████ █████ █████████████ █████████ ██████████████ █████ ██████████
"Surprising" Phenomenon
Why were the current prices for the 300 most common drugs from top wholesalers 60-80% lower than the suggested wholesale prices in a popular, independent pharmaceutical price guide?
Objective
Four of the answer choices will provide a hypothesis that helps to explain the difference between the actual drug prices and the suggested drug prices in the study.
Note that we are looking for the answer choice that does not help to explain this difference.
21.
Each of the following, if █████ █████ ████ ██ ███████ ███ █████████ █████████ █████ ███████
a
A price war ███████ ██████████████ ████ ███████████ █████ ██ ████████ ████ ███████ ██████ █████ ███████ ██████ ███ █████ ███ ██████████
This helps to explain why drug prices from top wholesalers were lower than the suggested wholesale prices in the guidebook. If a price war among drug wholesalers began shortly before the study was conducted, it could have caused the studied prices to be lower than usual.
b
Suggested wholesale prices ███ ███ ████ ██████ ██████████████ █████ ████ ██ ██ ████ ████ █████ ███ ████ ██████ ██████████████ ██████
This does not help to explain why prices for the 300 most common drugs were lower than the suggested prices in the guidebook. Since we're only talking about these 300 drugs, it doesn't matter if suggested prices for less common drugs are usually higher.
c
Wholesale prices for ██████████████ █████ █████ █████████ ████████████ ████ ███ █████ ██ ███ █████
This helps to explain why drug prices from top wholesalers were lower than the suggested wholesale prices in the guidebook. If wholesale drug prices fluctuate significantly each month, it makes sense that the annual guidebook might not reflect the prices for any given month.
d
Wholesale prices suggested ██ ███ █████████████ █████████ ██████████████ █████ █████████ ███ ██████████ ██ █████ █████ ██████████████ ██████████ ██ ████ ███████████ ████████
This helps explain the difference in the actual and suggested prices. The guidebook prices allow wholesalers to make a profit, so they can still profit by charging 60-80% of the suggested price. Wholesalers might want to charge less to stay competitive or reduce consumer costs.
e
The prices suggested ██ ███ █████████████ █████████ ██████████████ █████ █████████ ███ ███ █████ ██ ██████████ █████ ██████████ ██ ██████████████ █████ ██ ██████████ ████████
This helps to explain why drug prices from top wholesalers were lower than the suggested wholesale prices in the guidebook. If the suggested prices are for smaller sales to individual doctors, these wholesalers who specialize in bulk sales might charge less for bulk purchases.