Danish company asks Florida to stop using its drug to kill inmates

Danish company asks Florida to stop using its drug to kill inmates

The head of Lundbeck, Inc., the Danish company that makes ones of the drugs Florida plans to use to execute its first death row inmate in 18 months, has twice written Gov. Rick Scott urging him not to use their product for capital punishment.
Staffan Schüberg, president of Lundbeck, wrote to Scott in May and again in June after he said his letters to the Florida Department of Corrections went unanswered. It's unclear if Scott's office has responded, either.
The drug — pentobarbital sodium, branded as Nembutal — is at the center of the Florida Supreme Court's decision this week to delay the execution of Manuel Valle, who shot and killed a South Florida police officer 33 years ago.
"The use of pentobarbital outside the approved labeling has not been established," Schüberg wrote. "As such, Lundbeck cannot assure the associated safety and efficacy profiles in such instances. For this reason, we are concerned about its use in prison executions."