Company blocked from selling execution drug to Mo.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – A federal judge has temporarily blocked an Oklahoma pharmacy from selling a drug to the Missouri Department of Corrections for use in an upcoming execution.

The judge agreed late Wednesday to issue a temporary restraining order in a lawsuit filed by Missouri death row inmate Michael Taylor.

Taylor’s attorneys say the Department of Corrections contracts with The Apothecary Shoppe, a compounding pharmacy in Tulsa, to provide the drug set to be used in his Feb. 26 lethal injection.

The lawsuit says several recent executions involving the drug, compounded pentobarbital, indicate it will likely cause "severe, unnecessary, lingering and ultimately inhumane pain."

The state hasn’t confirmed the pharmacy is the source for its drug. There was no immediate word on whether the ruling could delay the execution.