Archimedes Pharma UK says it has no control over how anaesthetic is used after being sold to medical suppliers

An anaesthetic manufactured by Archimedes Pharma UK was used during the execution of Jeffrey Landrigan. Photograph: Ho/AFP/Getty Images

An anaesthetic manufactured by Archimedes Pharma UK was used during the execution of Jeffrey Landrigan. Photograph: Ho/AFP/Getty Images
 
The British manufacturer of a drug used in the execution of an Arizonian man this week has said it had no control over how its anaesthetic was used once it was sold to medical suppliers, amid calls for tighter regulation of the export of drugs used to carry out the death penalty.

Archimedes Pharma UK, based in Reading, the only British firm to make the drug, denied knowingly providing it for use prior to the lethal injection of a convicted murderer on Tuesday.

Richard Dieter of the Death Penalty Information Centre in Washington said that the British government should act to prevent the "outsourcing" of the death penalty after Arizona's attorney general said his state obtained the batch of sodium thiopental from a British manufacturer because of a shortage in the US.

The anaesthetic was used to knock out the condemned man, Jeffrey Landrigan, before two other drugs that killed him were administered.

California is also planning to use a batch of sodium thiopental apparently imported from the UK in an execution that was put on hold last month, it has emerged.

Archimedes Pharma, a specialist in supplying pain relief, is the only licensed manufacturer of sodium thiopental in Britain, according to the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The company denied it had exported the drug itself.

"The company supplies the product in the UK, in accordance with regulations, through the recognised pharmaceutical supply chain, primarily to wholesalers and hospital pharmacies," it said.

Archimedes said that once the drug entered the complex chain of medical supplies it would not have known where it was eventually sold. "Consistent with applicable regulations, the company does not have information on specific end purchasers or users of its products. The company neither exports the product to the US for any purpose, nor is it aware of any exports of the product," it said.

Arizona's state government went to the US supreme court on Tuesday to overturn a lower court order for it to reveal precisely where and how it obtained the drug. Arizona's attorney general argued that to do so would breach the state's law shielding the identity of those involved in executions. The supreme court ruled in the state's favour and lifted a stay on Landrigan's execution. He was put to death a few hours later.

Sodium thiopental is commonly used as an anaesthetic. It has also been recommended for use in euthanasia in some European countries. If the drug had been exported to Europe by a manufacturer or wholesaler, the MHRA said, then the agency would have to have been informed and given its approval. Those restrictions do not apply to exports beyond Europe. The MHRA said: "There is one current licence for sodium thiopental [held by Archimedes Pharma UK]. It is used as an anaesthetic, in convulsive disorders and for reducing intracranial pressure."

It appears probable that Arizona acquired the drug through an American importer of medical supplies which also looks to be the supplier of sodium thiopental for a scheduled execution in California. Sodium thiopental is also being imported for use in hospitals because of a national shortage that is not expected to be overcome until next year.

California plans to use the drug in the execution of a convicted murderer, Albert Brown. The use-by date on its existing supply expired last month. The state's prison system has said that it obtained its latest batch of sodium thiopental "lawfully from within the US". It will not discuss the place of manufacture or supplier.

The only US manufacturer, Hospira in Illinois, has said that it did not supply California with the drug. Anti-death penalty advocates have noted that the batches of sodium thiopental held by California and Arizona for use in executions have similar expiration dates, in 2014. That has reinforced suspicions that they have come from the same manufacturer.

The Death Penalty Information Centre's Richard Dieter called on the British government to act. "I would have thought that Great Britain might have something to say about this. This sets a dangerous precedent. This is being outsourced. Our executions are taking on an international dimension," he said.

"It looked like Arizona didn't have any of this drug and the same thing happened in California. They cancelled some executions … Then all of a sudden both Arizona and California said they had got some. There's suspicion that since they are neighbouring states they got it from the same supplier. Oklahoma has only one dose [of sodium thiopental] left."

Amnesty International said that Arizona's use of a drug obtained in Britain "raises serious questions about whether there are proper controls on equipment that could be used to torture and kill".

Amnesty called for tighter EU controls to ensure that drugs cannot be exported for use in executions in the future.

"The UK promised in 2008 to lead efforts to strengthen EU controls on death penalty and torture equipment for precisely these reasons. No substantial progress has been made since this commitment. That urgently needs to change," it said.

Source: The Guardian (UK)