Arizona Department of Corrections

Arizona began executing death-row inmates by lethal injection in 1993.

The pharmaceutical company Pfizer has announced steps to keep its products from being used in lethal injections, according to The New York Times.

Pfizer’s decision means there are no U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved sources for lethal injection drugs, said Dale Baich, an assistant federal public defender of condemned inmates who are plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging Arizona’s death penalty law.

“Today’s development by Pfizer sets an industry standard, and shows the depth and breadth of the pharmaceutical companies' objections to states misusing medicines to kill prisoners,” Baich said.

The news comes as Arizona waits for a federal judge to decide whether to throw out the lawsuit. At an April hearing, the judge promised to act quickly because a supply of execution drugs is set to expire this month. But the ruling has yet to be released.

To execute a prisoner, Arizona law requires officials to get a death warrant, and then wait 35 days before sending someone to the death chamber. This means it’s unclear if Arizona could carry out an execution.

Arizona has tried to get lethal injection drugs from a non-approved manufacturer in India, but was intercepted by the federal government, Baich said.

If Arizona can’t get federally approved drugs, Baich said the state faces a choice.

“Do we end the death penalty or does the state go back to more primitive means of carrying out executions?” Baich said.

It’s unknown if Arizona uses Pfizer drugs for lethal injections, Baich said.