Lundbeck, a Danish based pharmaceutical firm, is the manufacturer and supplier of Nembutal® CII Sodium Solution (pentobarbital sodium injection, USP), now quickly being adopted as the single drug utilized in lethal injections in the United States.

            This is due to the lack of availability of sodium thiopental, a drug used in the three-drug lethal injection protocol. A U.S. based pharmaceutical company has admirably stopped production of sodium thiopental in view of the fact they could not guarantee the countries where the drug was manufactured, that it would not be used in executions.

            This leaves Lundbeck as the sole manufacturer and supplier of drugs for executions in the United States. If Lundbeck were to take pro-active steps to prevent the use of pentobarbital in lethal injections, this would virtually halt executions in the United States.           

             In response to a previous change.org petition Lundbeck stated, “Lundbeck is dedicated to saving people’s lives. Use of our products to end lives contradicts everything we’re in business to do, which is to provide therapies that improve people’s lives. Lundbeck is opposed to the use of its product for the purpose of capital punishment.”

             Lundbeck further stated, “…we have concluded that there are no viable steps Lundbeck can take to prevent end-users from obtaining the product for unapproved use, short of withdrawing the product from the market.”

           If Lundbeck is opposed to the use of their drug in executions, they should certainly reconsider all possibilities to ensure this doesn’t happen.

           We are calling on Lundbeck to reexamine solutions to prevent the end-use of pentobarbital in lethal injections.

            Lundbeck should take definitive measures to resolve this issue.

            I hope you will consider signing the petition. Thank you.