Pentobarbital

Pentobarbital is a short-acting barbiturate.

9 facts · 1 storiesDocument updated

Established facts

  1. Abbott Pharmaceutical discontinued manufacture of its Nembutal-branded pentobarbital capsules in 1999; this statement concerns that branded capsule product, rather than all pentobarbital manufacture.

    Verified · 1999

  2. The source describes pentobarbital's medical applications as sedation, preparation before anesthesia, emergency control of convulsions, and short-term treatment of insomnia.

    Verified

  3. At high doses, pentobarbital can cause death by respiratory arrest, meaning that breathing stops.

    Verified

  4. As of 2021, pentobarbital's sodium salt was considered the drug of choice for animal euthanasia in the United States and Canada.

    Verified · 2021

  5. In March 2011, Ohio carried out the first United States execution in which pentobarbital was the sole execution drug.

    Verified · 2011-03

  6. Pentobarbital was first used in a United States execution in Oklahoma in December 2010, as one component of a three-drug protocol.

    Verified · 2010-12

  7. Texas began using a single-drug pentobarbital execution protocol on July 18, 2012, because of a shortage of pancuronium bromide, a muscle-paralyzing drug previously included in its three-drug protocol.

    Verified · 2012-07-18

  8. Ernest H. Volwiler and Donalee L. Tabern developed pentobarbital at Abbott Laboratories in 1930.

    Verified · 1930

References

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