A key drug used by the state of Missouri in executions will no longer be made by its only domestic manufacturer.
Hospira has announced it will no longer make sodium thiopental, an anesthetic used in Missouri as one of three drugs administered as the deadly cocktail in lethal injections. Hospira had considered moving production of the drug to Italy, which outlaws capital punishment. Italy has suggested it might sue the company if the drug is used in executions. The Wall Street Journal reports the action comes as anti-death penalty activists ratchet up pressure on pharmaceutical companies which make drugs used in lethal injections.
