USA - Hospira announced today it will exit the sodium thiopental market and no longer attempt to resume production of its product

Hospira announced today it will exit the sodium thiopental market and no longer attempt to resume production of its product, Pentothal. Hospira had intended to produce Pentothal at its Italian plant. In the last month, we've had ongoing dialogue with the Italian authorities concerning the use of Pentothal in capital punishment procedures in the United States - a use Hospira has never condoned. Italy's intent is that we control the product all the way to the ultimate end user to prevent use in capital punishment. These discussions and internal deliberation, as well as conversations with wholesalers -- the primary distributors of the product to customers -- led us to believe we could not prevent the drug from being diverted to departments of corrections for use in capital punishment procedures. Based on this understanding, we cannot take the risk that we will be held liable by the Italian authorities if the product is diverted for use in capital punishment. Exposing our employees or facilities to liability is not a risk we are prepared to take. “Given the issues surrounding the product, including the government's requirements and challenges bringing the drug back to the market, Hospira has decided to exit the market. We regret that issues outside of our control forced Hospira's decision to exit the market, and that our many hospital customers who use the drug for its well-established medical benefits will not be able to obtain the product from Hospira”, said spokesman Dan Rosenberg. Sodium thiopental is already in short supply, and any batches Hospira had manufactured were set to expire in March. That means the decision to halt production could in turn disrupt or delay executions across the U.S. Hospira continues to make 2 other drugs that, in addition to medical uses, are also used by states for executions – pancuronium bromide, which paralyze inmates, and potassium chloride, which stop inmates' hearts. The current shortage of the drug had disrupted executions in Arizona, California, Kentucky, Ohio – which nearly ran out last spring – and Oklahoma. In the fall, states including Arizona, Arkansas, California and Tennessee turned to a British manufactured source of sodium thiopental. But that supply dried up after the British government in November banned its export for use in executions. Hospira’s decision puts a wrench in the nation’s capital-punishment system. States can attempt to use another anesthetic in place of thiopental, but such a switch likely would need to be approved by courts and possibly state legislators. Many states have already run out of thiopental, forcing prison officials to delay executions. The drug shortage followed a 2009 decision by Hospira to suspend production due to manufacturing issues. The Lake Forest, Ill., company had planned to resume producing thiopental in the 1st quarter of 2011 at a company plant in Liscate, Italy. But in December, the Italian parliament issued an order binding the government to ensure that Hospira's Italian-made thiopental would not be used in lethal injections. In the face of that opposition, Hospira ultimately decided to exit the thiopental market, said company spokeswoman Tareta Adams. "This will be a challenge for [medical] customers and we regret that," Ms. Adams said. "But we don't want to put our Italian facility at risk that the product will be misused" by U.S. prisons. Late last year, a drug used to euthanize animals was approved for use in capital punishment in Oklahoma. The shortage of thiopental sodium had prompted the state to seek court clearance to use pentobarbital as a substitute. U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot in November approved the use of pentobarbital and denied requests to delay the executions of two Oklahoma inmates, whose attorneys had protested its use. Judge Friot's ruling could prompt other states to use pentobarbital, and thus prevent delays in capital punishment. Only one company, Lundbeck Inc., now markets injectable pentobarbital in the United States, according to the F.D.A., but the agency said it was not aware of any shortage. In the early 1970s, Oklahoma was the 1st state to approve the use of thiopental in capital punishment, and it later become the nationwide standard for lethal injections.