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Drizzling Beauty · 2009 October 30th, 08:47 AM

In clinical trials of new medicines, half of the subjects receive the drug being tested and half receive a physiologically inert substance ?a placebo. Trials are designed with the intention that neither subjects nor experimenters will find out which subjects are actually being given the drug being tested. However, this intention is frequently frustrated because ____.

Which one of the following, if true, most appropriately completes the explanation?

(A) often the subjects who receive the drug being tested develop symptoms that the experimenters recognize as side effects of the physiologically active drug

(B) subjects who believe they are receiving the drug being tested often display improvements in their conditions regardless of whether what is administered to them is physiologically active or not

(C) in general, when the trial is intended to establish the experimental drug's safety rather than its effectiveness, all of the subjects are healthy

(D) when a trial runs a long time, few of the experimenters will work on it from inception to conclusion

(E) the people who are subjects for clinical trials must, by law, be volunteers and must be informed of the possibility that they will receive a placebo

rick21 · 2009 October 30th, 11:40 AM

Clearly the fight is in between A and E ..A is the winner ..clue lies in the work "frequently" , A also uses word Often ..whereas E uses "must" which means all the times subjects would know ..

mini_india · 2009 October 30th, 03:13 PM

I second rick21. I'd like to add that since recognizable symptoms would be expressed in subjects taking the phsyiologically active drugs, the subjects taking the drugs would become known to the experimenters.

nverma · 2009 October 30th, 04:45 PM

IMO A

Drizzling Beauty · 2009 October 31st, 03:26 AM

How can we rule we out B....the intention can be frequently frustrated if the result for which the whole experiment is taking place can become ambiguous for some reason...which is explained in B

"subjects who believe they are receiving the drug being tested often display improvements in their conditions regardless of whether what is administered to them is physiologically active or not"

If the subject is given the placebo and he shows improvement, the experiment will be a failure because the experts will not be able to differentiate between the drug and the placebo and the very ground for which the placebo is given will not hold good...

kindly enlighten me....

mini_india · 2009 October 31st, 05:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drizzling Beauty

How can we rule we out B....the intention can be frequently frustrated if the result for which the whole experiment is taking place can become ambiguous for some reason...which is explained in B

"subjects who believe they are receiving the drug being tested often display improvements in their conditions regardless of whether what is administered to them is physiologically active or not"

If the subject is given the placebo and he shows improvement, the experiment will be a failure because the experts will not be able to differentiate between the drug and the placebo and the very ground for which the placebo is given will not hold good...

kindly enlighten me....

The intention is - "neither subjects nor experimenters will find out which subjects are actually being given the drug being tested".

(B) means that those subjects who believe they are on the drugs being tested will show improvement. The question then is, are these subjects those who are actually being given the drug? Experimenters will only be misled then, into believing who are on drugs being tested but that is not the same as knowing who is actually being tested.

Hope this is helpful.

achar_varun · 2009 October 31st, 12:28 PM

mini_india is correct.

Answer A.

MBAchase · 2009 November 1st, 04:01 AM

IMO A

rempre · 2009 November 2nd, 01:14 AM

what is the official answer? I think the answer is B.

sonikamadala · 2009 November 2nd, 04:16 AM

IMO answer is B

2009 October 30th, 08:47 AM	#1 (permalink)
Drizzling Beauty Within my grasp! Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 155	Tricky CR In clinical trials of new medicines, half of the subjects receive the drug being tested and half receive a physiologically inert substance ?a placebo. Trials are designed with the intention that neither subjects nor experimenters will find out which subjects are actually being given the drug being tested. However, this intention is frequently frustrated because ____. Which one of the following, if true, most appropriately completes the explanation? (A) often the subjects who receive the drug being tested develop symptoms that the experimenters recognize as side effects of the physiologically active drug (B) subjects who believe they are receiving the drug being tested often display improvements in their conditions regardless of whether what is administered to them is physiologically active or not (C) in general, when the trial is intended to establish the experimental drug's safety rather than its effectiveness, all of the subjects are healthy (D) when a trial runs a long time, few of the experimenters will work on it from inception to conclusion (E) the people who are subjects for clinical trials must, by law, be volunteers and must be informed of the possibility that they will receive a placebo

2009 October 30th, 03:13 PM	#3 (permalink)
mini_india Pay It Forward Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 89	I second rick21. I'd like to add that since recognizable symptoms would be expressed in subjects taking the phsyiologically active drugs, the subjects taking the drugs would become known to the experimenters. _ _ _ _ SIG _ _ _ _ It's the choices that make us who we are, and we can always choose to do the right thing.

2009 November 1st, 04:01 AM	#8 (permalink)
MBAchase GMAT TEST EXPERTS Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 520	IMO A _ _ _ _ SIG _ _ _ _ Get your free profile evaluation with our proprietary spider plot: http://mbachase.co/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=72&It emid=62

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2009 October 30th, 11:40 AM	#2 (permalink)
rick21 Within my grasp! Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 227	Clearly the fight is in between A and E ..A is the winner ..clue lies in the work "frequently" , A also uses word Often ..whereas E uses "must" which means all the times subjects would know ..

2009 October 30th, 04:45 PM	#4 (permalink)
nverma Within my grasp! Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 174	IMO A

2009 October 31st, 03:26 AM	#5 (permalink)
Drizzling Beauty Within my grasp! Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 155	How can we rule we out B....the intention can be frequently frustrated if the result for which the whole experiment is taking place can become ambiguous for some reason...which is explained in B "subjects who believe they are receiving the drug being tested often display improvements in their conditions regardless of whether what is administered to them is physiologically active or not" If the subject is given the placebo and he shows improvement, the experiment will be a failure because the experts will not be able to differentiate between the drug and the placebo and the very ground for which the placebo is given will not hold good... kindly enlighten me....

2009 October 31st, 12:28 PM	#7 (permalink)
achar_varun I JUST got here. Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 29	mini_india is correct. Answer A.

2009 November 2nd, 01:14 AM	#9 (permalink)
rempre I JUST got here. Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 6	what is the official answer? I think the answer is B.

2009 November 2nd, 04:16 AM	#10 (permalink)
sonikamadala GMAT cracker Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 221	IMO answer is B

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