Pfizer blocks sales of its drugs for executions

The pharmaceutical company Pfizer has announced measures to block the sale of its products for the use in capital punishment, which means that all 25 Food and Drug Administration approved makers of potential lethal injection drugs have now declared their opposition to such use.

“Pfizer makes its products to enhance and save the lives of the patients we serve,” the company said in a statement released on Friday 13 May. “Consistent with these values, Pfizer strongly objects to the use of its products as lethal injections for capital punishment.”1

Pfizer took on several potential execution drugs last year when it acquired Hospira Inc, a company that had been at the forefront of efforts to keep drugs …