Pfizer bans use of its drugs in executions through distribution controls
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Pfizer announced on Friday that it is implementing controls on distribution of its drugs to ensure that none are used in executions.
Pfizer’s announcement (PDF) follows the adoption of such controls by more than 20 American and European drug companies, the New York Times reports.
“Pfizer makes its products to enhance and save the lives of the patients we serve,” the company said in a statement. “Consistent with these values, Pfizer strongly objects to the use of its products as lethal injections for capital punishment.”
The company will sell its drugs only to a select group of buyers who agree they won’t be resold for use in executions. The new restrictions will tighten restrictions already in place by the company intended to bar “unintended uses” of its drugs, the Washington Post reports.
As a result of Pfizer’s action, there isn’t a single company that makes execution drugs with Food and Drug Administration approval that allows the drugs to be used in lethal injections, according to Maya Foa, who tracks drug companies for the advocacy group Reprieve. “Executing states must now go underground if they want to get hold of medicines for use in lethal injection,” she told the New York Times.
Some states are buying execution drugs from compounding pharmacies while others are using straw buyers, according to the Times.
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