May 16, 2016
By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
Pfizer has developed policies for seven of its drugs used in lethal injections, making it more difficult for prisons to acquire the compounds.
Pfizer, according to international human rights organization, Reprieve, has joined 24 other companies that produce drugs used in executions in blocking sales for the purposes of capital punishment.
“Pfizer’s actions cement the pharmaceutical industry’s opposition to the misuse of medicines,” said Maya Foa, director of Reprieve, in a statement. “This will mean that all FDA-approved manufacturers of all execution drugs have spoken out against the misuses of medicines in lethal injections and taken steps to prevent it.”
The seven products are pancuronium bromide, potassium chloride, propofol, midazolam, hydromorphone, rocuronium bromide, and vecuronium bromide.
As of July 2015, 31 states allowed the death penalty and lethal injection was the primary method of execution. Since 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), more than 1,260 prisoners have been executed by lethal injection in the U.S.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, lethal injections start with a sedative or anesthetic, and then are followed by pancuronium bromide, which paralyzes the prisoner. Potassium chloride is injected to stop the heart.
Pfizer issued a statement, saying, “Pfizer makes its products solely to enhance and save the lives of the patients we serve. We strongly object to the use of any of our products in the lethal injection process for capital punishment.
“We are committed to ensuring that our products remain available and accessible to the medical professionals and patients who rely upon them every day. We have implemented a comprehensive strategy and enhanced restricted distribution protocols for a select group of products to help combat their unauthorized use for capital punishment.”
According to the DPCI, since 1976, 1,261 people were executed by lethal injection, 158 by electrocution, 11 by gas chamber, three by hanging, and three by firing squad.
Recently, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Northern California acquired more than 12,000 pages of California prison documents showing the California Department of Correction and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has “significantly understated drug costs, advocated violating federal law in attempting to acquire execution drugs, considered obtaining execution drugs from questionable sources, and downplayed the seriousness of botched executions in other states and the prospects that botches could occur in California.”
In addition, the papers revealed that the CDCR estimated that each execution’s drugs costs about $4,193, but that a May 2014 email indicated they were trying to buy 200 grams of one of the drugs at an initial cost of $500,000, but only if the name of the company was not disclosed. The documents also showed that the CDCR considered buying the drugs from foreign sources, although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) blocks many states from importing drugs used in executions because they violate federal law.
The Pfizer statement says, “Pfizer’s distribution restriction limits the sale of these seven products to a select group of wholesalers, distributors, and direct purchasers under the condition that they will not resell these products to correctional institutions for use in lethal injections. Government purchasing entities must certify that products they purchase or otherwise acquire are used only for medically prescribed patient care and not for any penal purposes. Pfizer further requires that these government purchasers certify that the product is for ‘own use’ and will not resell or otherwise provide the restricted products to any other party.”
Megan McCracken, an expert on the death penalty at the University of California, Berkeley, told CNN, “Pfizer is the second-biggest pharmaceutical company in the world. From the stance of a company making a stand it’s a big deal. It’s more than a PR move, because they’ve put in place a restrictive distribution system.”
She points out, however, that because states cloak information about lethal injection drugs in secrecy regulations, it will be difficult to evaluate the impact of Pfizer’s decision. “It is difficult if not impossible to know what (drugs) states are using and how they are getting them. And if they are using what they claim.”
