Unmarked cars and secret orders: How a pharmacy prepared drugs for Texas’ executions

The state of Texas, blocked from purchasing lethal injection drugs by major pharmaceutical companies that refuse to participate in executions, bought them instead from an in-state, compounding pharmacy with a history of more than a dozen safety and cleanliness violations, NPR has learned.

Rite-Away Pharmacy and Medical Supply in suburban San Antonio produced injectable pentobarbital from 2019 through at least late 2023 for Texas to use in executions, records from the state Department of Criminal Justice and the federal Drug Enforcement Administration revealed.