The pharmaceutical maker Pfizer wants drugs slated for inclusion in the execution of Nevada killer Scott Raymond Dozier returned. Nevada’s Department of Corrections answered on Friday: No. The two drugs that the company wants back are fentanyl and diazepam. The only agreement that the drug manufacturer and the state’s prison organization have, centers on the name of each drug.
Robert Jones is Pfizer’s vice president who demanded to have Nevada give back drugs purchased by the state for the lethal injection of the 46-year-old double-murderer. Pfizer didn’t single out Nevada, however.
The company also requested the state of Nebraska gives back its Pfizer-made drugs, according to U.S. News & World Report.
Pharmaceutical maker Pfizer says it will ‘reimburse the state’
On Friday, the Associated Press attained a copy of the letter received by Nevada prison officials, several news agencies reported. Brooke Keast, the spokeswoman for the state’s Department of Corrections (DOC) said Nebraska officials received a similar letter, Corrections One noted. The pharmaceutical manufacturer expressed objection to its drugs used in capital punishment cocktails. Jones assured that Pfizer will “reimburse the state” for returning the drugs.
In 2016, Pfizer stated that its policy banned distribution of its drugs, along with affiliate Hospira’s products, for use in executing killers on death row in states with capital punishment, which is 31 states in all.
Nevada prisons have no ‘obligation to return the product’
Keast explained that the DOC isn’t obliged to give back pharmaceuticals to Pfizer. The products were actually bought from the wholesale distributor Cardinal Health. “Once we make purchases,” Keast stated, that Nevada isn’t under an “obligation to return the product,” the Reno Gazette-Journal wrote.
The drugs designated for the lethal injection of Dozier are shelved for now. His November 14 execution was postponed on November 9 after Judge Jennifer Togliatti, Clark County District Court, pulled the paralytic cisatracurium from the lethal injection protocol designated for the murderer. At that point, Nevada’s prison chief, James Dzurenda, nixed the execution while the state’s Supreme Court reviews and rules on the judge’s decision.
In demanding that Nebraska return products the state plans to blend the death cocktail, Pfizer stated that its drugs are manufactured with the aim of enhancing and saving lives of patients, the Omaha World-Herald reported.
Manufacturer also demands Nebraska return drugs
Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts, along with the state’s DOC, didn’t comment on Thursday when asked whether the state has acquired Pfizer-made drugs. Dawn-Renee Smith, the prisons’ spokeswoman, said the state is not “disclosing the identity of the supplier at this time,” the Herald reported.
The information that Smith did relay is the amount Nebraska spent on four drugs designated for the upcoming execution of Jose Sandoval. He will be the first death row killer executed after a 20-year hiatus.
The state’s planned execution protocol includes diazepam, a sedative; fentanyl; cisatracurium, a paralytic; and, finally, potassium chloride.
Last month, Nebraska spent a total of $10,500 for the drugs – three of which Pfizer has banned for use in executions. Unlike Nebraska, Nevada DOC is evidencing more transparency in its process of procuring two of its three-drug injection protocol from Cardinal Health for under $500. Cardinal Health, Corrections One reported, has not expressed whether the company was aware of Nevada’s intended use of the drugs purchased.
