04 April 2019 :

Drugmakers object to Arkansas execution secrecy measure. 2 pharmaceutical companies objected to legislative efforts to expand the secrecy surrounding the source of Arkansas’ lethal injection drugs, saying the proposal would hamper their ability to ensure their products aren’t being used for executions. Officials with Hikma Pharmaceuticals and Fresenius Kabi USA sent letters last month to lawmakers and the governor raising concerns about a bill that would prohibit the state from releasing information that could directly or indirectly identify the makers or suppliers of its lethal injection drugs. Arkansas doesn’t have any executions scheduled, and its supply of lethal injection drugs has expired. Prison officials have said they won’t search for replacements until the state’s execution secrecy law is expanded to include the drugs’ manufacturers. Both companies oppose the use of their drugs in executions, and have put controls in place to ensure they’re not used for capital punishment. “We are deeply concerned with efforts by any state to obscure or hide the source of products for lethal injection,” Brooke Clarke, Hikma’s vice president for global corporate affairs, said in a letter to House leaders. “It is imperative that we are not impeded from protecting patient health and upholding the protocols we have put in place to monitor the integrity of our products and supply chain.” Fresenius Kabi USA said it was worried about unintended consequences of such a measure, such as drug shortages due to European Union regulations aimed at preventing the export of drugs that would be used in executions. Both companies in 2017 had sought unsuccessfully to prevent Arkansas from using their drugs under an execution plan that initially called for putting 8 inmates to death over an 11-day period. Arkansas ultimately executed 4 inmates over 8 days, after 1/2 the executions were halted by the courts. The expanded secrecy proposal is in response to rulings from the state Supreme Court that the current secrecy law doesn’t apply to manufacturers of Arkansas’ execution drugs.