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Article

20 Apr 2017

Author:
Maya Foa, Reprieve, on Guardian (UK)

Commentary: Big pharma sends powerful message to stop its drugs being used for executions in the US

"Can big pharma stop the Arkansas mass executions?", 16 Apr 2017

[A] judge in Arkansas halted the state’s plans to carry out America’s largest mass execution since the civil rights era...The judge’s stay order was a response to a lawsuit by the healthcare giant McKesson [which] alleges that Arkansas deliberately and duplicitously misled the firm to obtain its medicine for use in executions...McKesson does not stand alone...[McKesson, Hikma, Pfizer and Fresenius Kabi] have crossed swords with Arkansas this week over the state’s attempts to undermine lawful contracts designed to prevent the misuse of their medicines in executions...as two of the companies wrote in their amicus last week: “The use of their medicines for lethal injections […] creates a public-health risk because it could result in the denial of medicines from patients who need them most.”... [B]ig pharma has sent a powerful message...