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 …