The main sup­pli­er to the U.S. of a drug pro­posed for lethal injec­tions has announced it will not allow the drug to be sold for exe­cu­tions. Fresenius Kabi USA, a German-based com­pa­ny with offices in Illinois, issued a state­ment for­bid­ding the sale of propo­fol to cor­rec­tion­al insti­tu­tions for death penal­ty use. Earlier in 2012, Missouri announced it intend­ed to switch to propo­fol as the sole drug in its lethal injec­tion pro­to­col, becom­ing the first state to do so. Fresenius Kabi offi­cials react­ed with a state­ment: ​“Fresenius Kabi objects to the use of its prod­ucts in any man­ner that is not in full accor­dance with the med­ical indi­ca­tions for which they have been approved by health author­i­ties. Consequently, the com­pa­ny does not accept orders for propo­fol from any depart­ments of cor­rec­tion in the United States. Nor will it do so.” Missouri, like most states with the death penal­ty, had been using sodi­um thiopen­tal as the first drug in a three-drug pro­to­col. Supplies of the drug expired or ran out, forc­ing states to seek alter­na­tives. Some states replaced sodi­um thiopen­tal with pen­to­bar­bi­tal, but sup­plies of that drug have also dwin­dled after its man­u­fac­tur­er announced it will restrict the drug’s sale for sim­i­lar rea­sons. Read full state­ment from Fresenius Kabi.

(A. Zagier, ​“Another man­u­fac­tur­er blocks drug for exe­cu­tion use, cloud­ing Missouri’s plan,” Associated Press, September 28, 2012).

In July, the United Kingdom also announced restric­tions on the sale of propo­fol for lethal injec­tions. See Lethal Injection. Listen to DPIC’s pod­cast on Lethal Injections.

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