Today's Columbus Dispatch reports, "Drugmaker objects to Ohio's new execution plan." It's written by Alan Johnson.
With two convicted murderers scheduled to be executed, and 13 others awaiting death dates, Ohio officials plan to use a new lethal-injection drug over the objections of the manufacturer.
Tuesday's announcement by the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction that it will switch to pentobarbital from sodium thiopental for executions beginning in March prompted Lundbeck Inc., the sole U.S. manufacturer of the drug, to send a letter of protest.
Sally Benjamin Young, vice president for communication for the Danish-based company with U.S. headquarters in Deerfield, Ill., declined to release the letter because it is "private communication."
However, Young said the company told state prison officials that it is "adamantly opposed" to the use of its product, sold under the trade name Nembutal, for capital punishment. "We urged them to discontinue using it for this purpose.
"Lundbeck is dedicated to saving people's lives," Young said. "Use of our products to end lives contradicts everything we're in business to do."
Prisons spokesman Carlo LoParo said the state will not heed the company's warning and will use the new drug as planned.
And:
Court spokesman Chris Davey said he does not know when the next round of execution dates will be set. Prison officials have been told to expect the pace of executions to continue monthly in the immediate future.
"Oklahoma plans to continue using sedative in executions despite manufacturer's objections," is the AP report, via the Los Angles Times. It's written by Tim Talley.
Oklahoma prison officials will continue using a sedative as part of the state's three-drug lethal injection protocol despite objections from the drug's manufacturer, a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections said Thursday.
Denmark-based Lundbeck, Inc., producer of the drug pentobarbital, has said it opposes use of the drug in lethal injections and has sent a letter asking the Oklahoma and Ohio not to use it to put inmates to death.
Oklahoma Department of Corrections spokesman Jerry Massie said prison officials had not seen the letter Thursday but "don't anticipate any changes."
Alex Weintz, spokesman for Gov. Mary Fallin, and Diane Clay, spokeswoman for Attorney General Scott Pruitt, said members of their respective staffs also had not seen the letter and would withhold comment.
Oklahoma has used the drug in three executions, including two earlier this month. No other executions are scheduled in the state, which used the pentobarbital as the first drug administered in its three-drug lethal injection protocol. The other two drugs are vecuronium bromide, which stops respiration, and potassium chloride, which stops heart activity.
Officials in Ohio announced Tuesday that they would switch to pentobarbital as the sole drug used to put inmates to death.
Earlier coverage begins with the editorials in the preceding post. More on the request from Lundbeck, the drug's manufacturer, at the link.
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