Today's Lincoln Journal Star reports, "Company recalls Nebraska's lethal injection drug." It's by Kevin O'Hanlon.
A Swiss pharmaceutical company has notified the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that it is recalling a supply of the lethal injection drug sodium thiopental held by Nebraska, which could leave the state without a means to carry out executions for the foreseeable future.
"The product is being recalled from the market because it was illegally diverted from the company's supply chain and has been outside the company's control in breach of Naari AG's established standard operating practices," Naari AG says in a document sent to the FDA.
The Journal Star obtained a copy of the document, in which Naari asks that Nebraska officials "immediately quarantine and return to us or FDA any product in your possession. ... The product is being removed from the market with the knowledge of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration."
Sodium thiopental has been in short supply since 2010, when the only U.S. manufacturer, Hospira Inc., ended production because of death-penalty opposition from overseas customers. After that, the European Union banned the export of some barbituric acids, including sodium thiopental, further diminishing the drug's availability for use in lethal injections.
Last year, Nebraska prison officials bought a supply made by Naari from a middleman named Chris Harris, and his company Harris Pharma LLP.
Attorney Jerry Soucie of the Nebraska Commission on Public Advocacy, who represents death-row inmate Michael Ryan, has been arguing that Nebraska should not be allowed to use it because Harris was not authorized to sell the samples meant for use in testing. That, he contends, means Harris misappropriated the thiopental, and Nebraska is in possession of stolen property.
Nebraska prison officials refused a request by Naari to return the drug. Last month, the FDA ordered them to contact the FDA and make arrangements to turn over "any foreign-manufactured thiopental in your possession."
The letter followed a recent ruling by U.S. District Judge Richard Leon that said the FDA ignored the law in allowing foreign-made sodium thiopental into the country.
Similar letters from the FDA went to Arizona, Arkansas, California, Georgia, South Carolina, South Dakota and Tennessee.
Earlier coverage of the Nebraska stock of sodium thiopental begins at the link. Related posts are in the lethal injection index.
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