Firm wants Neb. to return a lethal-injection drug

By Margery A. Beck, Associated Press
Posted: November 30, 2011

OMAHA, Neb. - A Swiss pharmaceutical company is asking Nebraska officials to return a drug the state plans to use to execute death-row inmates.

Earlier this month, the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services announced it had obtained a new supply of sodium thiopental, one of three drugs needed to carry out executions by lethal injection, from the Swiss company Naari AG. The drug is no longer manufactured in the United States and is in scarce supply worldwide.

Naari CEO Prithi Kochhar said in a letter sent Nov. 18 to Nebraska officials that his company did not supply the drug to the state and would never support its use for lethal reasons.

The company gave free samples of the drug, produced at its Indian manufacturing facilities, to a man in India who said he wanted to use it and eventually sell it as an anesthetic in Zambia, Kochhar's letter said. Instead, the middleman sold the samples for $5,411 to Nebraska officials.

The Attorney General's Office declined to comment, saying it had not received the letter from Kochhar by Tuesday.

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