In the United States, policy debates about implementing this sort of body led to them being referred to as a "death panel".
There is no logical reason why we shouldn't prefer an older generic medication if it treats the symptoms of a condition just as effectively and with fewer side effects than a newer option that is no more effective and has more side effects, but doing what is best for patients has to compete against the profit motive of our pharmaceutical companies.
> There is no logical reason why we shouldn't prefer an older generic medication if it treats the symptoms of a condition just as effectively and with fewer side effects than a newer option that is no more effective and has more side effects
There are checks on this, and I'm not sure if you are thinking of a particular case, but I can't really see how this would happen. In order to get approval, a new drug almost always has to demonstrate that it is at least "non-inferior" to the standard of care. Additionally, there is a lot of pressure in the United States from payers. Insurance companies just won't pay for a drug that is in no way better than the previous standard of care with more detrimental side effects. There are definitely cases where the FDA made a mistake for one reason or another (allowed an entity to move through the wrong approval mechanism, were duped by fraudulent AE reports and didn't catch it, failed to require the appropriate screens for AEs, etc), but the system has some checks on drug companies.
Oxycontin was certainly profitable, but it was not good for patients with chronic pain.
This is a case where a Pharma company deliberately misled doctors, patients and regulators because doing so was exceptionally profitable.
>The company that makes the narcotic painkiller OxyContin and three current and former executives pleaded guilty today in federal court here to criminal charges that they misled regulators, doctors and patients about the drug’s risk of addiction and its potential to be abused.
There is no logical reason why we shouldn't prefer an older generic medication if it treats the symptoms of a condition just as effectively and with fewer side effects than a newer option that is no more effective and has more side effects, but doing what is best for patients has to compete against the profit motive of our pharmaceutical companies.