German pharma firm sues to halt US execution

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Europe

A German pharmaceutical company is suing to stop an execution in the US state of Nebraska, arguing that its drugs will be used for the lethal injection and that they were obtained illegally.

Fresenius Kabi filed the lawsuit Tuesday evening, ahead of the planned execution on Aug. 14 of Carey Dean Moore, who was sentenced to death for the 1979 murder of two taxi drivers.

If carried out, the execution would be Nebraska's first in 21 years and its first ever lethal injection.

The state plans to use four drugs: the sedative Diazepam, the powerful narcotic painkiller fentanyl citrate, the muscle relaxer cisatracurium and potassium chloride, which stops the heart.

Fresenius headquarters in Bad Homburg near Frankfurt, Germany, February 27, 2018. /VCG Photo

Fresenius Kabi believes it is the source of the latter two drugs and is asking a federal judge to issue an order either temporarily or permanently blocking the state from using the injectable medications.

"While Fresenius Kabi takes no position on capital punishment, Fresenius Kabi opposes the use of its products for this purpose and therefore does not sell certain drugs to correctional facilities," the company said in its civil complaint.

"These drugs, if manufactured by Fresenius Kabi, could only have been obtained by defendants in contradiction and contravention of the distribution contracts the company has in place and therefore through improper or illegal means."

Many in Europe disapprove of the death penalty and the drug maker claims it could suffer "great reputational injury" if its drugs are used for capital punishment.

The state of Nebraska has not disclosed the source of the drugs but the state attorney general's office said in a statement that "Nebraska's lethal injection drugs were purchased lawfully and pursuant to the State of Nebraska's duty to carry out lawful capital sentences."

Injectable drugs have become harder to acquire in the US amid public opposition and a reluctance among drug manufacturers to sell their products to prisons for use in executions.

Last month, a similar lawsuit by drug maker Alvogen at least temporarily halted an execution in Nevada.

(Top picture: File photo of the lethal injection death chamber at the prison at Huntsville, Texas. /VCG Photo)

Source(s): AFP