Newspaper editorial: Many pharmaceutical companies develop "me too" drugs, drugs designed to duplicate, more or less, the effect of another company's product that is already on the market.
Conclusion
"Me too" drugs can benefit customers.
Evidence
Even though "me too" drugs basically copy an existing drug on the market, the entry of a "me too" drug into the market can result in a price reduction for the drugs they resemble.
Evaluate
We need to be further convinced that "me too" drugs benefit consumers, so any additional benefit consumers get either directly (by buying and using "me too" drugs) or indirectly (as a result of their presence in the marketplace) can work as a correct answer.
We can try to think of ways that "me too" drugs might hurt consumers, so that if an answer goes the opposite direction, it will strengthen: - what if having this redundant similar drug makes insurance companies get confused or sloppy or make mistakes when it comes to authorizing or reimbursing consumers?
- what if consumers get confused about what they should buy?
- what if the original drug maker doesn't make enough profits (because the "me too" drug steals a lot of the revenue from that drug) and so the drug maker doesn't have enough money to develop the next helpful drug?
- what if these generic drug manufacturers would otherwise be doing something more useful with their time/money than making a slightly cheaper copycat drug?
Goal
Look for an answer adding an additional benefit, or amplifying the one we were told (such as , or "it often happens that a price reduction occurs").
Or look for an answer that rules out one of our objections.