UK government fails to tackle weaknesses in drug industry

doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7516.534

BMJ 2005;331:534 (10 September), doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7516.534

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UK government fails to tackle weaknesses in drug industry

London Liza Gibson

The UK government has failed to tackle the weaknesses in the pharmaceutical industry in its response to a report published earlier this year on the industry�s role and influence, says a leading critic.

Ike Iheanacho, editor of the Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin, a publication from the consumer body Which?, told the BMJ that healthcare staff needed to know if they had been misled by drug advertisements. The government�s response has not acted on many of the recommendations made in a highly critical report on the influence of the pharmaceutical industry on drug regulation, healthcare professionals, and the NHS, he said.

The highly critical report, published by the House of Commons� health select committee on 5 April, dealt with the growing influence of the industry on prescribing and the lack of transparency in the drug regulatory system (BMJ 2005;330:805).

"The pharmaceutical industry is entering a new . . . [Full text of this article]

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