Danish firm to prevent use of drug in U.S. executions

Danish firm to prevent use of drug in U.S. executions
COPENHAGEN — Danish drugmaker Lundbeck said Friday it would restrict the distribution of its Nembutal drug to prevent its use in lethal injections in US prisons.

"The company has moved to alter the distribution of its medicine Nembutal (the trade name for its pentobarbital sodium injection) in order to restrict its application as part of lethal injections in the US," the Danish company said in a statement. The drug will from now on "be supplied exclusively through a specialty pharmacy drop ship program that will deny distribution of the product to prisons in US states currently active in carrying out the death penalty by lethal injection."

It said it notified its distributors of the plan in late June. Lundbeck's pentobarbital anaesthetic is used to treat severe epilepsy but is also used by a number of states as part of a three-drug cocktail used to execute death row inmates.

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