Companies call on judge to prevent their drugs’ use in executions

TWO PHARMACEUTICAL companies have asked a US judge to prevent Arkansas from using their drugs to execute seven inmates by the end of the month.

Fresenius Kabi USA and WestWard Pharmaceuticals said they object to their products being used for capital punishment.

The firms were granted permission to file a friend of the court brief in a lawsuit by the inmates aimed at halting the unprecedented execution schedule, set to begin on Monday with the lethal injection of two condemned killers.

Fresenius Kabi said it appeared that it had manufactured the potassium chloride Arkansas plans to use, while West-Ward had previously been identified by The Associated Press as the likely manufacturer of the state’s supply of midazolam.

“The use of the medicines in lethal injections runs counter to the manufacturers’ mission to save and enhance patients’ lives, and carries with it not only a public-health risk, but also reputational, fiscal and legal risks,” the companies said in a filing with the court.

Arkansas prison officials announced they had obtained a new supply of potassium chloride, clearing the way for the executions to begin. The executions are scheduled to occur before Arkansas’ supply of midazolam, a sedative used in flawed executions in other states, expires.

“We have made repeated representations to the governor’s office, office of the attorney general and the Department of Corrections to confirm if they are in possession of our product which they intend to use in lethal injections, and if so to return it to us,” Brooke Clarke, a spokeswoman for Hikma, West-Ward’s parent company, said.