The International Academy of Compounding Pharmacists (IACP) is one of the pri­ma­ry orga­ni­za­tions con­cerned with com­pound­ing phar­ma­cies, and it stress­es ​“patient care” as a pri­ma­ry con­cern. On March 24, 2015, IACP announced a position dis­cour­ag­ing mem­bers from pro­vid­ing drugs for exe­cu­tions. The Board of Directors said, ​“While the phar­ma­cy pro­fes­sion rec­og­nizes an indi­vid­ual practitioner’s right to deter­mine whether to dis­pense a med­ica­tion based upon his or her per­son­al, eth­i­cal and reli­gious beliefs, IACP dis­cour­ages its mem­bers from par­tic­i­pat­ing in the prepa­ra­tion, dis­pens­ing, or dis­tri­b­u­tion of com­pound­ed med­ica­tions for use in legal­ly authorized executions.”

Listen to David Miller, the CEO of the International Academy of Compounding Pharmacists, dis­cussing lethal injec­tion drugs. (NPR, 2/​17/​14).

The IACP states that its mis­sion of ​“pro­tect­ing, pro­mot­ing and advanc­ing per­son­al­ized med­ica­tion solu­tions is crit­i­cal for patient healthcare.”

This same con­cern for patient care is high­light­ed in its Code of Ethics, which directs phar­ma­cists to ​“Uphold the tri­ad rela­tion­ship — patient, physi­cian, phar­ma­cist — as the basis for pharmacy practice.”

The mis­sion of the relat­ed IACP Foundation also empha­sizes the impor­tance of patient care: ​“The Foundation’s mis­sion is to sup­port the qual­i­ty, integri­ty, and advance­ment of phar­ma­cy com­pound­ing and its prac­ti­tion­ers for the ben­e­fit of patients.” (empha­sis added).

Several drug manufacturers have cit­ed their own com­mit­ments to patient care in their deci­sions to restrict the sale of their prod­ucts that might be used in lethal injec­tions. Executions involve invol­un­tary patients who are killed by the drugs.