Manufacturer Won't Sell Drug for Use in Executions

Setback for states looking for alternatives to other drugs that companies have stopped selling to them

The manufacturer of the anesthetic blamed for Michael Jackson's death said Thursday it won't sell the drug for use in executions, a setback for Missouri and other states looking for an alternative after other drug makers also objected to their products' use in lethal injections.

Drug maker Fresenius Kabi USA, a German company with U.S. offices based in Schaumburg, Ill., says it is the only remaining domestic supplier of propofol. Earlier this year, Missouri adopted a new single-drug execution method that would make it the first state to use propofol as an execution drug.

Fresenius Kabi spokesman Matt Kuhn confirmed to The Associated Press that the company told its distributors in late August that such usage contradicts the drug's medical purpose and is "inconsistent" with the company's mission. It's also forbidden under European Union laws to export drugs that could be used in executions.