Lundbeck Inc., a Danish phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal com­pa­ny that is the sole man­u­fac­tur­er of pen­to­bar­bi­tal for sale in the U.S., is fac­ing an eth­i­cal dilem­ma regard­ing the use of its drug in exe­cu­tions. Pentobarbital is increas­ing­ly being used in the U.S. in place of sodi­um thiopen­tal for lethal injec­tions. Pentobarbital was most recent­ly used in exe­cu­tions in Texas, South Carolina, and Mississippi. Andrew Schroll, a spokesman for Lundbeck, said that the com­pa­ny has prid­ed itself on mak­ing prod­ucts that improve people’s lives. Denmark and the entire European Union, as well as Lundbeck, are offi­cial­ly opposed to the death penal­ty and dis­agree with how this prod­uct is being used. Schroll said, ​“This is a mis­use of our prod­uct. We are in an eth­i­cal dilem­ma where we are opposed to the use of our med­ica­tion for cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment while at the same time we want to make sure that patients who ben­e­fit from our med­ica­tion get access to it.” Lundbeck has sent let­ters to pris­ons in 11 states demand­ing that they stop using pen­to­bar­bi­tal in their lethal injec­tion pro­to­cols. No prison has respond­ed, and even more states are intend­ing to use the drug, includ­ing Virginia, which recent­ly announced their switch.

(T. Schultz, ​“Europe fights the death penal­ty — with drugs,” The Global Post, May 13, 2011). See Lethal Injection and International.

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