Pharma Dev develops and markets new technological products to be used in health care. The development of a new product operates as follows. When a new technology meets the requisite market potential, a new patent is filed and granted immediately. Patents are granted for a period of 12 years starting from the date of issue. Once the patent is filed and granted, the new technology is queued to be developed at one of its three independent development centers, and is then launched to the market. Each patented technology is developed at only one center, and each center can only develop a single patented technology at a time. On average, Pharma Dev files a new patent every 5 months (with standard deviation of 5 months). The development process at a development center lasts 12 months on average (with standard deviation of 24 months). Pharma Dev’s competitor, Pills & Co, has almost identical operation: all the parameters of the process are the same, but the number of development centers equals 4. On average, how many years of patent life will be left on a technological product when it is launched by Pills & Co to the market?
a. 11.38 years.
b. 8.5 years.
c. 12 years.
d. 6.75 years.
e. 9.5 years.
f. 10.48 years.