But his job took an unexpected turn in 2010, when Hospira, the maker of the drug sodium thiopental, stopped production in the US due to an unspecified issue with obtaining raw materials.

The protocols currently used in the US contain three drugs: an ultrashort-acting barbiturate, thiopental (which acts as an anesthetic, but does not have any analgesic effect); a neuromuscular ...

This hypothesis has been supported by findings of low postmortem blood thiopental levels and eyewitness accounts of problematic executions. Herein we report evidence that the design of the drug ...