Officials reject claims of drug industry's influence

Questioned repeatedly about the effect of the drug industry on doctors' prescribing, medical education, scientific research, and drug evaluation, government officials told a parliamentary inquiry last week that there was no evidence of unhealthy influence.

Four senior officials from the Department of Health and one from the Department of Trade and Industry were giving evidence at the first public hearing of the far reaching inquiry of the House of Commons Health Committee into the industry's influence on the health system.

Committee chairman David Hinchliffe, who is soon to retire, told the BMJ that a key reason for the inquiry was the …