COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The sole U.S. manufacturer of a sedative Ohio plans to use to execute death row inmates, and that Oklahoma has already used, is opposing the practice and asking the state to stop.

Pentobarbital maker Lundbeck Inc. says it never intended for the drug to be used to put inmates to death.

The company's Deerfield, Ill., office sent letters to Ohio and Oklahoma on Wednesday urging the states not to use the drug in their capital punishment procedures.

Company spokeswoman Sally Benjamin Young tells The Associated Press that executions are clearly outside of the drug's intended use.

Oklahoma has used the drug in combination with two others in three executions, while Ohio announced Tuesday it is switching to the sedative as the sole drug used to put inmates to death.