The drug in question, sodium thiopental, is an anesthetic and the first of a three-drug cocktail used in lethal injections in many states. The purpose of the drug is to prevent the subject from experiencing pain while the other two drugs are administered to induce paralysis and then cardiac arrest. The lawsuit alleges that without proper approval by the FDA, there is greater risk that the drugs are tainted, which means there is a greater risk of causing subjects an unconstitutional amount of pain.
Plaintiffs in the lawsuit are all condemned and imprisoned in one of the importing states where the death penalty is carried out by lethal injection using the three-drug cocktail.
There has been a nationwide shortage of thiopental since 2009, when the only U.S. company producing the drug, Hospira Inc., announced it had manufacturing problems. In January, the company announced it was permanently discontinuing production. A statement released by the company said it left the market because authorities where the manufacturing plant is located in Italy object to the drug’s use in capital punishment in the U.S., a practice the company says it has also never condoned.
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