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Pfizer tightens restrictions on drugs

Pfizer, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, said Friday that it was tightening restrictions on its drugs to ensure that they are not used in lethal injections, a move that further clamps down on the chemicals states can obtain for executions.

Pfizer, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, said Friday that it was tightening restrictions on its drugs to ensure that they are not used in lethal injections, a move that further clamps down on the chemicals states can obtain for executions.

While Pfizer had previously said that it had restrictions in place to keep its drugs from being used in lethal injections, the company had acknowledged that it could not guarantee that no prison would obtain the drugs. This new policy adds in a system of monitoring to ensure that its drugs do not wind up sold to prisons for lethal injections.

This announcement comes as the dwindling number of states that still carry out lethal injections have scrambled to obtain drugs amid a continuing shortage, which has forced some to adopt a series of new lethal injection protocols aimed at letting them carry out executions.

"These changes are significant," said Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. "What Pfizer has done today is make clear that along with the rest of the pharmaceutical community, it's committed to ensuring that its medicines are not misused."

In recent years, companies have spoken out about the use of their drugs in lethal injections, prompting a flurry of activity in states that previously relied upon a three-drug formula. These shortages and court challenges have caused states to halt executions for months and, in Ohio's case, years at a time.

Pfizer's policy, which was outlined Friday, added new restrictions that a company spokeswoman said "enhances" the previous system. The pharmaceutical giant also said it is setting up a system to monitor the drugs once they are sold to make sure purchasers continue to comply with Pfizer's restrictions.

"Pfizer makes its products solely to enhance and save the lives of the patients we serve," Rachel Hooper, the spokeswoman, said in a statement. "We strongly object to the use of any of our products in the lethal injection process for capital punishment."

Pfizer's decision was first reported Friday by the New York Times.

The company's policy lists seven drugs that the company says are intended "to treat illness or save the lives of patients" but had also been included in lethal injection protocols adopted or proposed around the country. Pfizer says it will only sell these specific drugs to groups that will not resell them to prisons intending to use them in lethal injections, and the company asks government groups to certify that they are only getting the drugs for medical purposes.

Pfizer's previous policy, dated last fall, said that it was seeking to restrict "unintended uses" of its drugs, but acknowledged that it was possible that due to the complexity of the supply chain, it could not guarantee that prisons could not obtain the drugs.

Under the new policy, dated this spring and revealed Friday, the company added a formal state of objection to its drugs being used in lethal injections and states that in addition to monitoring the distribution of these seven drugs, the company would "act upon findings that reveal noncompliance."

"We've had a policy on capital punishment for years now," Hooper said. "We're doing the responsible thing. We have been doing the responsible thing for years, we're just updating our policy."

In Texas, which has carried out six of the 14 executions in the United States this year, the state uses one drug - pentobarbital - that is not manufactured by Pfizer. While Texas officials say it cannot identify the supplier due to state law, a corrections spokesman said last year that officials bought pentobarbital from a compounding pharmacy.

Dunham said that while it is not clear if Pfizer's drugs may have been used in lethal injections despite its objections, the company's actions suggest they believe this has occurred and that's why it "is taking steps to minimize the future risk."