Hospira to continue making 'execution' drug

Lake Forest-based Hospira Inc., the only U.S. manufacturer of a medical anesthetic commonly used as part of a lethal dose in executions, said Thursday it plans to resume the drug's production and sell it again to customers by March.

Thiopental sodium used by injection, known by the brand name of Pentothal, ended production in August 2009 for reasons Hospira won't disclose, but insists that the drug was still safe and effective. A new supplier of one of its ingredients is being sought, said Hospira spokesman Dan Rosenberg.

Hospira also is in the process of changing its production facility from North Carolina to another, unnamed site. Once that new site is up and running, the so-called knockout drug will resume production, said Rosenberg.

“It has a medical use and it's used to help save lives at hospitals,” said Rosenberg. “We don't support the use of it in executions.”

Hospira has sent letters to state authorities nationwide last spring to notify them that capital punishment is not an approved use of this product and that the company doesn't support its use in that procedure, Rosenberg said.

Pentothal was first made in the 1930s by Abbott Laboratories, which later spun off Hospira to continue producing that drug and others. Hospira sold Pentothal to about 3,400 hospitals before it stopped production. Any remaining drug that is on hospital shelves likely will expire in 2011, Rosenberg said.

The shortage of the drug came to light in September when some state correctional facilities needed it as part of planned executions. For example, officials in Arizona handed a California prison agent 24 vials of sodium thiopental. That agent then drove eight hours to provide the vials to another agent, who sent it to San Quentin Prison, which houses the death chamber. It was collected for the planned Sept. 30 execution of Albert Greenwood Brown, although the state called off the execution because of a court ruling connected to the Oct. 1 expiration date of the thiopental sodium on hand.

California officials called about 100 hospitals and even considered a supplier in Pakistan until acquiring some of the drug manufactured by Archimedes Pharma of Great Britain. But the department still hasn't received the shipment, because it's being held on the East Coast awaiting clearance from the Food and Drug Administration.

While hospitals and health care facilities at prisons have medical professionals that are free to purchase such drugs from any distributor, Hospira remains adamant that it does not advocate the use of it in executions.

“We are not apprised before the sale of how a product is going to be used,” said Rosenberg. “When it was made, hospitals in prisons could use the drug for medical reasons. We would never sell the drug for executions.”

Daily Herald wire services contributed to this story.