Lundbeck said it would review orders before providing clearance for shipping the drug and deny orders from prisons located in states currently carrying out executions.
Purchasers must give written agreement that they will not redistribute the drug. Previously, distributors were required only to ensure that a buyer had the necessary licenses for ordering controlled substances.
Jumat, 29 Juli 2011
Danish Company Blocks Sale of Drug for U.S. Executions
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/02/world/europe/02execute.html?_r=2
PARIS — A Danish pharmaceutical company said Friday that it would stop shipping a powerful drug to American prisons that carry out the death penalty by lethal injection because some states began using it as a substitute for another compound that was taken off the market.
The company, Lundbeck, said in a statement that it “adamantly opposes the distressing misuse of our product in capital punishment.” Lundbeck informed its distributors that from now on its sodium pentobarbital injection, a barbiturate sold under the brand name Nembutal, would be available in states that conduct lethal-injection executions on only a restricted basis.
“After much consideration, we have determined that a restricted distribution system is the most meaningful means through which we can restrict the misuse of Nembutal,” Ulf Wiinberg, Lundbeck’s chief executive, said in the statement. “While the company has never sold the product directly to prisons and therefore can’t make guarantees, we are confident that our new distribution program will play a substantial role in restricting prisons’ access to Nembutal for misuse as part of lethal injection.”
The death penalty is prohibited throughout the 27-member European Union, and human rights groups have brought pressure on drugmakers not to supply lethal drugs for American executions.
In execution by lethal drugs, a prisoner is injected with one or more drugs, which can include anesthetics, barbiturates and muscle relaxants.
Lundbeck’s decision applies to prisons in 14 states, said Mads Kronborg, a company spokesman. It follows moves by states including Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma and Texas, to use the drug for executions. States began using pentobarbital as a substitute for the anesthetic sodium thiopental when that drug’s only American producer, Hospira Inc. of Lake Forest, Ill., announced in January that it would stop selling the drug.
Reprieve, a human rights group in London that has led in the movement to stop European companies from selling lethal injection drugs to the United States, said pentobarbital had been used to execute 18 prisoners.
“We also need to see action from the European Commission to block the export of execution drugs from the E.U. to the U.S.,” a Reprieve spokeswoman, Maya Foa, said in a statement. “Several European firms have already become involved in this grim business on their watch — this must not be allowed to happen again.”
While pentobarbital is an old drug, vulnerable to competition from generics, Nembutal is currently the only version available in the United States that can be injected, Mr. Kronborg said.
“We would have withdrawn it from the market,” he said. “Strategically, financially it’s completely insignificant to us.
“But experts said it was important to have it available for therapeutic use,” including as an emergency treatment of severe epilepsy and as a strong sedative, he added.
Lundbeck said it would review orders before providing clearance for shipping the drug and deny orders from prisons located in states currently carrying out executions. Purchasers must give written agreement that they will not redistribute the drug. Previously, distributors were required only to ensure that a buyer had the necessary licenses for ordering controlled substances.
“We were completely shocked and outraged” to learn that the drug was being used for executions, Mr. Kronborg said. “States and prisons never asked. We only found about it from the media. If they had asked, we would have said no.”
Danish Company Blocks Sale of Drug for U.S. Executions
By DAVID JOLLY
Published: July 1, 2011
PARIS — A Danish pharmaceutical company said Friday that it would stop shipping a powerful drug to American prisons that carry out the death penalty by lethal injection because some states began using it as a substitute for another compound that was taken off the market.
The company, Lundbeck, said in a statement that it “adamantly opposes the distressing misuse of our product in capital punishment.” Lundbeck informed its distributors that from now on its sodium pentobarbital injection, a barbiturate sold under the brand name Nembutal, would be available in states that conduct lethal-injection executions on only a restricted basis.
“After much consideration, we have determined that a restricted distribution system is the most meaningful means through which we can restrict the misuse of Nembutal,” Ulf Wiinberg, Lundbeck’s chief executive, said in the statement. “While the company has never sold the product directly to prisons and therefore can’t make guarantees, we are confident that our new distribution program will play a substantial role in restricting prisons’ access to Nembutal for misuse as part of lethal injection.”
The death penalty is prohibited throughout the 27-member European Union, and human rights groups have brought pressure on drugmakers not to supply lethal drugs for American executions.
In execution by lethal drugs, a prisoner is injected with one or more drugs, which can include anesthetics, barbiturates and muscle relaxants.
Lundbeck’s decision applies to prisons in 14 states, said Mads Kronborg, a company spokesman. It follows moves by states including Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma and Texas, to use the drug for executions. States began using pentobarbital as a substitute for the anesthetic sodium thiopental when that drug’s only American producer, Hospira Inc. of Lake Forest, Ill., announced in January that it would stop selling the drug.
Reprieve, a human rights group in London that has led in the movement to stop European companies from selling lethal injection drugs to the United States, said pentobarbital had been used to execute 18 prisoners.
“We also need to see action from the European Commission to block the export of execution drugs from the E.U. to the U.S.,” a Reprieve spokeswoman, Maya Foa, said in a statement. “Several European firms have already become involved in this grim business on their watch — this must not be allowed to happen again.”
While pentobarbital is an old drug, vulnerable to competition from generics, Nembutal is currently the only version available in the United States that can be injected, Mr. Kronborg said.
“We would have withdrawn it from the market,” he said. “Strategically, financially it’s completely insignificant to us.
“But experts said it was important to have it available for therapeutic use,” including as an emergency treatment of severe epilepsy and as a strong sedative, he added.
Lundbeck said it would review orders before providing clearance for shipping the drug and deny orders from prisons located in states currently carrying out executions. Purchasers must give written agreement that they will not redistribute the drug. Previously, distributors were required only to ensure that a buyer had the necessary licenses for ordering controlled substances.
“We were completely shocked and outraged” to learn that the drug was being used for executions, Mr. Kronborg said. “States and prisons never asked. We only found about it from the media. If they had asked, we would have said no.”
Lundbeck has issued statements discouraging the use of pentobarbital in executions.
Lundbeck has issued statements discouraging the use of pentobarbital in executions.
“Lundbeck adamantly opposes the distressing misuse of our product in capital punishment,” company CEO Ulf Wiinberg said in a prepared statement Friday. “After much consideration, we have determined that a restricted distribution system is the most meaningful means through which we can restrict the misuse of Nembutal.”
The new distribution proc-ess will deny sales to corrections departments in states that impose death sentences and carry out executions.
Danish firm cuts off execution drug
Danish firm cuts off execution drug
PHOENIX — Execution by lethal injection has hit another roadblock after the Danish pharmaceutical firm that makes a barbiturate recently incorporated into most states’ execution protocols announced that it would change the drug’s distribution to keep prisons from obtaining it for executions.
H. Lundbeck A/S is the manufacturer of pentobarbital, which it markets under the brand name Nembutal.
In the last few months, pentobarbital has been used in executions because the preferred drug, sodium thiopental, became unavailable when the sole U.S. manufacturer, Lake Forest-based Hospira Inc., ceased production.
Pentobarbital is used as the first of three drugs in lethal injection. It renders the condemned inmate unconscious so he or she cannot feel the second two drugs, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart.
Lundbeck has issued statements discouraging the use of pentobarbital in executions.
“Lundbeck adamantly opposes the distressing misuse of our product in capital punishment,” company CEO Ulf Wiinberg said in a prepared statement Friday. “After much consideration, we have determined that a restricted distribution system is the most meaningful means through which we can restrict the misuse of Nembutal.”
The new distribution proc-ess will deny sales to corrections departments in states that impose death sentences and carry out executions.
Gannett News Services
Kamis, 28 Juli 2011
The use of pentobarbital outside the approved labeling has not been established
"The use of pentobarbital outside the approved labeling has not been established," Schüberg wrote. "As such, Lundbeck cannot assure the associated safety and efficacy profiles in such instances. For this reason, we are concerned about its use in prison executions."
Maker of Drug Used in Florida Lethal Injections Asked Rick Scott Not to Kill People With It
Maker of Drug Used in Florida Lethal Injections Asked Rick Scott Not to Kill People With It
 |
| Florida Department of Corrections |
| Manuel Valle, the subject of the current lethal-injection controversy in Florida. |
Staffan Schüberg, president of the Danish drug manufacturer Lundbeck, wrote to Scott twice asking him not to misuse his company's drug, Nembutal -- which Scott approved to execute South Florida cop-killer Manuel Valle.
One concern Schüberg relays to Scott about the use of Nembutal in Florida's executions is that his company didn't exactly test the drug by trying to kill people, so it has no idea of its effectiveness or safety in executions.
On May 16, Schüberg wrote his first letter to the governor, asking him to stop abusing his company's drug.
"We are adamantly opposed to the use of Nembutal to execute prisoners because it contradicts everything we are in business to do -- provide therapies that improve people's lives," he wrote. "Given our strong opposition to this misuse of our product, we previously sent a letter to the Florida Department of Corrections urging it to refrain from using Nembutal for the purpose of capital punishment."
Two weeks later, Scott signed Valle's death warrant.
Valle's execution was just delayed yesterday, from August 2 to September 1, in a Florida Supreme Court decision that stated a judge will have to hear evidence on whether the new lethal injection drug the state plans to use in Valle's execution is acceptable.
Nembutal -- which has been the replacement since the lone manufacturer of sodium thiopental stopped making that drug -- has been used without any reported incidents in a handful of other states.
Still, Schüberg wrote again to the governor after he signed off on Valle's juicing, asking one more time that Florida not use his company's sedative.
"The use of pentobarbital outside the approved labeling has not been established," he said. "As such, Lundbeck cannot assure the associated safety and efficacy profiles in such instances. For this reason, we are concerned about its use in prison executions."
The hearing on the new drug ordered by the Florida Supreme Court is scheduled for tomorrow.
Florida stays execution of Manuel Valle due to cruelty concerns with new drug
26 July 2011
Florida stays execution of Manuel Valle due to cruelty concerns with new drug
Florida has stayed the execution of Manuel Valle to allow a hearing on whether the use of a new execution drug will cause him unnecessary pain, in violation of the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.Mr Valle, a Cuban citizen with ties to Spain who has been on death row for more than three decades and is now being assisted by Reprieve’s EC Project, had been due to be executed a week today (August 2nd). However, in the wake of botched executions in other states using pentobarbital – which in Florida and much of the US has replaced the previously widely-used anaesthetic sodium thiopental – Florida’s Supreme Court decided on Monday to grant a stay.
Florida’s recent history has seen a number of botched executions, notably that of Angel Diaz in 2006 which resulted in then-Governor Jeb Bush suspending all executions and establishing a commission to look into the issue, leading to a two-year hiatus.
The recent execution of Roy Willard Blankenship in Georgia using pentobarbital was reminiscent of that of Mr Diaz – both men grimaced, struggled and appeared to be inadequately anaesthetised. Harvard anaesthesiologist Dr David Waisel has said that, judging by eyewitness accounts, Mr Blankenship was “inadequately anesthetized” and “suffered greatly”. He has warned that “Mr. Blankenship’s reaction to the pentobarbital injection may be indicative of other inmates’ reactions.”
As Mr Valle’s is set to be in Florida, Mr Blankenship’s execution was the first to be carried out in Georgia using pentobarbital. Concerns over excessive suffering as a result of the new drug have also seen legal challenges, stays, and even the videotaping of an execution in other states.
Reprieve’s EC Project, which is helping Mr Valle, identifies and assists prisoners with European connections who are facing the death penalty in the USA.
Reprieve investigator Katherine Bekesi said: “Manuel Valle has already faced serious injustices. He has been denied proper clemency proceedings, and has been left to languish on death row for an astonishing 33 years. Now he faces execution using the same drug which has resulted in terrible suffering for other prisoners. This stay of execution is welcome – it has to be hoped that Mr Valle will not now face the final injustice of an excruciating death.”
Notes to editors
1. For more information please contact Donald Campbell or Katherine O'Shea at Reprieve’s Press Office: donald.campbell@reprieve.org.uk / +44 (0) 20 7427 1082 / (0) 7791 755 415 / katherine.oshea@reprieve.org.uk / +44 (0) 20 7427 1099 / (0) 7931 592 674.
2. Manuel Valle is a Cuban national with Spanish links, who has now been on death row for 33 years. He has been denied proper clemency proceedings, and (similarly to the recent case of Humberto Leal in Texas) did not receive the consular assistance to which he was entitled.
3. An eyewitness from the Associated Press has described the “thrashing, jerking death of Roy Willard Blankenship” during which “his eyes never closed”. The full text of Dr David Waisel’s affidavit on Roy Blankenship’s inadequate anaesthesia can be found on Reprieve's website
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