Lawsuit halts US execution

A CONDEMNED killer awaiting execution in the United States has received an 11th-hour reprieve after a pharmaceutical company sued to block the use of one of its drugs in the lethal injection process.

Alvogen Inc claimed the Nevada Corrections Department obtained its sedative midazolam illegitimately and a court ordered it be barred from being used in the execution of 47-year-old Scott Dozier.

Executions in several states have been stymied by global drug companies’ opposition to supplying products for death sentences, Alvogen is the second US drugmaker to take legal action against a state.