LAKE FOREST, Ill., Jan. 21 (UPI) -- The only U.S. company that makes sodium thiopental said Friday it will not resume manufacture of the anesthetic used in lethal injection.
Hospira Inc., headquartered in Lake Forest, Ill., decided not to restart production at a plant in Italy because Italian authorities said sodium thiopental would be barred from export for use in executions, The New York Times reported.
Daniel Rosenberg, a Hospira spokesman, said executives decided to "exit the market."
Sodium thiopental is part of the three-drug cocktail used in 34 states to carry out lethal injections. A short-acting barbiturate, the drug is little used for medical purposes, although some European countries allow its use for euthanasia.
A shortage of sodium thiopental after Hospira suspended production last year delayed executions in California and Oklahoma.
Michelle Lyons, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Corrections, said the state's supply of the drug expires in March. The state, which executes more people than any other, has two lethal injections scheduled in February, one in May and one in July.
Oklahoma has substituted pentobarbitol, a drug often used to put down animals.
