Pfizer Blocks Use of Its Drugs for Executions

Pfizer will require that local governments only use its drugs for patient care

The Pfizer drug company is taking steps to ensure its products do not wind up in cocktails being used to execute prisoners, NBC News reported. 

"Pfizer makes its products to enhance and save the lives of the patients we serve," the company said in a statement. "Consistent with these values, Pfizer strongly objects to the use of its products as lethal injections for capital punishment."

The company is โ€œenforcing a distribution restriction" for several products, including potassium chloride and the powerful anesthetic propofol, which caused the death of Michael Jackson. 

Under new guidelines, wholesalers and distributors must not resell the products to correctional institutions for lethal injections โ€” and local governments must certify that products purchased are solely for medically prescribed patient care. 

The move shuts off the government's last open market source for drugs used in executions. 

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