India-based firm doesn't want drug used for Arkansas executions

LITTLE ROCK — An India-based company that appears to have made one of the execution drugs Arkansas purchased says it doesn't want its product used in the state's plans to execute eight inmates.

Sun Pharma is the third pharmaceutical company to make such a statement. A spokesman for Sun Pharma said the company prohibits its customers from selling to prisons or other groups that may misuse them for lethal purposes.

The two other manufacturers — Hikma and Hospira — have also said they don't want their products used for executions.

The Associated Press approached the drugmakers after redacted photographs obtained through an open-records request appeared to show their drugs in Arkansas' execution supply.

State officials have said a secrecy law surrounding executions prohibits them from telling the companies if their drugs were purchased.

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