Indian firm stops selling scarce execution drug to U.S. states

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An Indian pharmaceutical company that was supplying a hard-to-get sedative used in executions says it has stopped selling the drug to U.S. prisons.

The Associated Press reports that Mumbai-based Kayem Pharmaceutical was becoming a major supplier of sodium thiopental, one of the three drugs used in lethal injections in 34 states. After supplying the drug to Nebraska and South Dakota and contacting a half-dozen other states, the manufacturer cited the "ethos of Hinduism" for its decision to "refrain ourselves in selling this drug where the purpose is purely for lethal injection and its misuse."

Read the company's full statement.

Kayem had come under pressure from activists, The Wall Street Journal notes.

Supplies of sodium thiopental became scarce after the sole U.S. manufacturer, Illinois-based Hospira, stopped making the sedative last year, saying it objected to the drug's use in executions. At least seven states have purchased the drug from overseas, while others got it from other states whose stocks had not expired. Several states have postponed executions because of the shortage.

Last week, Kentucky and Tennessee surrendered their supplies of sodium thiopental to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, which is investigating the importation of the drug. Last month, the DEA seized Georgia's stock.

AP has found that Arizona, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Kentucky, Nebraska and Tennessee obtained sodium thiopental overseas.

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Supreme Court blocks Texas execution using new drug cocktail

Update at 2:56 p.m. ET: In its brief ruling, the court gave prosecutors 30 days to respond to the defense petition, after which the Supreme Court will decide if the appeal has merit. Foster's defense team said they are encouraged by the ruling."It's not a common procedural posture," Maurie Levin, a University of Texas law professor and one of Foster's attorneys, said. "We're very happy for the stay and that the Supreme Court will be looking at important issues raised."

Cleve Foster, 47, blames his conviction on lawyers he didn't trust, what he called false testimony from police and prosecutors he contends misled jurors. "To me, they were pretty much pulling stuff out of their hats," he told the AP previously from death row.

Earlier posting: The U.S. Supreme Court has blocked an execution in Texas that was to be the state's first with new drug cocktail.

Cleve Foster was to have been executed this evening for killing a Sudanese woman in Fort Worth in 2002.

It would have been the first Texas execution since the state switched to pentobarbital in its lethal three-drug mixture, the Associated Press reports.

In its ruling today, the high court agreed to reconsider its January order denying the 47-year-old's appeal. That appeal had raised claims of innocence and poor legal help during his trial and early stages of his appeals.

Foster's lawyers also argued that Texas prison officials violated administrative procedures when they announced the switch to pentobarbital from sodium thiopental.

There is a national shortage of sodium thiopental, which has been used already in executions in Oklahoma and Ohio.

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High Court Grants Execution Stay for Arizona Inmate

High Court Grants Execution Stay for Arizona Inmate - FoxNews.com Skip to main content: Latino/SBC/Fox Business (Home/Slideshow/Interactive: Fox News/SBC/Latino/Fox Business) Skip to main content: Fox News/Fox Business (Article Page: Fox News/SBC/Latino/Fox Business)

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