As if the USA does not have this already!<p>Actually you would see far fewer ads since you would remove the ability and need for advertising. The reason drugs are advertised now is because the drug companies have so few new drugs to sell (no drug off-patent is ever advertised). They need to maximise the returns from the few drugs they have to sell. If hundred of new drugs came out each year then mass marketing would not work since the market for each drug would be too small.<p>Yes there would be more “ineffective” drugs, but if you and  your doctor had the choice of dozens of drugs for your disease which one would you choose - the one for which had no evidence that it worked, or the one where the drug company has scientific evidence? Even if they did not need to do trials for the approval process, pharmaceutical companies would still do them to convince doctors and patients.