USA - A Danish pension fund has sold its shares in Lundbeck

A Danish pension fund has sold its shares in Lundbeck, in response to concerns that the pharmaceutical group has failed to restrict supplies of its drug to US prisons that use it to execute prisoners on death row. Unipension, a $15bn fund, said it had sold its long-standing 300,000-share stake, worth about $8m, because Lundbeck had not adequately explained its refusal to meet demands by human rights groups to tighten distribution of its Nembutal drug. After lobbying in recent months prompted a block to be imposed on supplies of sodium thiopental, one of three drugs previously used in a standard “cocktail” to kill US prisoners given the death sentence, Lundbeck has become principal supplier with its drug, known generically as pentobarbital. Nembutal is a medicine prescribed for epilepsy and used as a veterinary anaesthetic. But it is also used unofficially as a recreational drug, for assisted suicide and in at least eight cases of lethal injections since the start of this year. Niels Erik Petersen, Unipension’s chief investment officer, said: “We did not receive sufficient information to evaluate whether Lundbeck was violating our ethical rules for socially responsible investing, so we decided from a purely risk-return perspective to sell our shares.” Ulf Wiinberg, Lundbeck’s chief executive, pledged to continue efforts to limit supplies of Nembutal, but said: “If I had a simple solution, I would be extremely happy to implement it.” He said he had considered withdrawing the drug, which generates only “marginal” sales, but was urged not to by epileptics. With the US Food and Drug Administration refusing to intervene, he said experts he had consulted were unable to find a way to limit supplies of the drug to prisons. Mr Wiinberg pledged to continue investigating ways to limit supplies including working with the US Drug Enforcement Administration, which has taken action to restrict supplies of sodium thiopental.