Larry Sasich
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Larry Dee Sasich Pharm.D., M.P.H., FASHP) | |
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| Born | August 5, 1944 Goldsboro, North Carolina |
| Died | February 20, 2025 |
| Known for | Fought for the right for patients to access regulated, scientifically accurate, useful drug information |
| Spouse(s) | Sana Rikabi Sukkari |
| Children | Randy L. Sasich |
| Family | Step-children: Alana R. Sukkari and Eli Y. Nader |
Larry Dee Sasich PharmD, MPH, FASHP (August 5, 1944 - February 20, 2025) was an American pharmacist, associate professor and educator in clinical pharmacy.
Sasich co-founded of Patient Drug News, based in Burlington, Ontario, Canada, and specialized in drug safety, contributing to governmental approval of new drugs, and provision of information on the potential risks and side effects of pharmaceutical drugs. He also campaigned against non-traditional pharmacy compounding, especially in the case of pentobarbital, the primary drug used in lethal injection executions in 15 of the 27 states that still practice capital punishment in the United States.[1]
Early life and education
Sasich was born in Goldsboro, North Carolina. He received his Bachelor of Science (Bsc) in Pharmacy from Idaho State University (ISU), a Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) degree from University of the Pacific, and completed an American Society of Health-System Pharmacists accredited residency in nuclear pharmacy at the University of New Mexico. In 1997, Sasich received a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree from George Washington University.
From 1995 onward, Sasich was a Fellow of the American Society of Health-system Pharmacists.
Career
After completing his doctorate, Sasich moved to Wuerzburg, in what was then West Germany, where he worked as a Staff Pharmacist for the U.S. Army Medical Department Activity, Bavaria (BMEDDAC). In 1975, he was promoted to Assistant Director of Pharmacy Services at the MEDDAC branch in Berlin.
In 1979, he returned to the site of his alma mater in Pocatella, Idaho as Assistant Professor of Clinical Pharmacy, and later Associate Professor, while simultaneously serving as Director of the Idaho Drug Information Service and Regional Poison Control Center from 1979 – 1982. He remained at ISU for the next nine years, receiving his tenure-ship in 1984, before doing a brief stint as Clinical Pharmacist at both Emanuel Hospital and Health Center in Portland, Oregon, and nearby St. Helens Hospital and Health Center.
In the late 1990s and until the end of his career, Sasich consulted for various government and private agencies geared towards public health between Washington, D.C. and Ottawa, Canada. He became a firm advocate for the dissemination of useful, accurate, and scientifically validated pharmaceutical drug information to patients, particularly concerning the provision of clear and correct information on risks and side-effects.
In 1995, Sasich was a research associate and consultant with Public Citizen’s Health Research Group in Washington, D.C. He served as the consumer representative on the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) and Science Board, an advisory committee to the US FDA Commissioner.
In 2006, in addition to his position as Chairman of the Department of Pharmacy Practice at LECOM School of Pharmacy in Erie, Pennsylvania, Sasich worked as a consultant to the Saudi Food and Drug Authority in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia with responsibilities in new drug approvals and safety.
Sasich co-authored Worst Pills, Best Pills: A Consumer's Guide to Avoiding Drug-Induced Death or Illness, Knowing Your Medications: A Guide to Becoming a Better Informed Patient, and he co-authored a chapter in three editions of Applied Therapeutics: The Clinical Use of Drugs.
After non-traditionally compounded pentobarbital was first used in an execution in 2013, Sasich turned his attention to the battle against its use in lethal injection, stating that non-traditional compounded drugs "do not meet federal requirements for purity, potency, efficacy and safety" as they "[exist] outside the FDA regulatory framework," and "have evolved into a substandard drug industry responsible for making large quantities of unregulated, unpredictable and potentially unsafe drugs."[2] According to Sasich, this meant that "there is a foreseeable risk that the non-traditional compounded drugs made for use in lethal injection . . . will be sub-standard in a manner that will cause sever pain upon or shortly after injection."[2]
The case of Warren Hill
Sasich would write multiple affidavits condemning the use of compounded drugs in executions and in support of staying executions where their use was presumed likely, as in the case of Warren Hill,[3] a Georgia death row inmate who was initially given life imprisonment for the 1985 murder of his girlfriend, Myra Wright, before his sentence was commuted to death for the subsequent killing of his cellmate, Joseph Handspike.
Lawyers representing Hill filed a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court in an attempt to stay Hill's execution on the grounds that "all seven mental health experts who [had] ever evaluated Hill, both the State's and Hill's . . . unanimously agree[d]" that he had an intellectual disability (mental retardation).[4] When the petition ultimately failed, and in a last-ditch effort to save his life, Hill's lawyers filed motions in the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay of execution. Shortly after, a Georgia judge ruled that a new state law shielding the source of lethal injection drugs (Lethal Injection Secrecy Act) "unconstitutionally [interfered] with Hill's right to challenge the method of execution."[5] Sasich provided an 18-page affidavit for Hill's legal defence team in support of this ruling.
In his affidavit, Sasich explains in great detail the practice of non-traditional compounding, citing, among other things, the tremendous difficulty (even without the addition of the Georgia law blocking such information) in tracing the raw chemicals used in compounding back to the original manufacturers to determine "quality, packaging, storage, shipment conditions and chains of custody."[2] Sasich claims that because non-traditional compounding does not undergo FDA approval and is not over-sighted by the agency, there can be no guarantees that the ingredients used in the compounding process are safe or uncontaminated, or that the ingredients listed on the product label are in fact even present.[2] Sasich concluded that there was a "serious risk that if such drugs were used in an execution by lethal injection, they would not work in a predictable manner, and could cause serious pain up on injection, considerable mental anguish and anxiety, and thereby put Mr. Hill at substantial risk of serious, unnecessary and substantial harm and mental anguish."[2]
In response to the information brought forth by the defence regarding the potential outcomes of the state's law shielding lethal injection drug sources, a Georgia judge of the Superior Court ruled in favor of extending Hill's stay of execution. The State appealed the decision in the Supreme Court, which concluded that "the possible availability of forms of discovery beyond what was forbidden by the [Lethal Injection Secrecy Act] did not affect this case . . . [and] was not unconstitutional."[6] Hill was executed on July 27, 2015.
Personal life
In August 2001 Sasich married Sana Rikabi Sukkari. He had one son from a previous marriage and was stepfather to Sana's daughter and son.
Sasich died from natural causes on February 20, 2025. He was 80 years old.
Awards
| Year | Award |
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| 2000 | Distinguished Person of the Year - Pharmacists Planning Services |
| 1995 | Fellow American Society of Health-System Pharmacists |
| 1986 | Ciba-Geigy Leadership Award |
| 1983 | Outstanding Service ± Idaho Board of Pharmacy |
| 1982 | Phi Delta Chi Faculty Achievement Award |
References
- ↑ "Overview of Lethal Injection Protocols". Death Penalty Information Center. Retrieved 2025-02-27.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Sasich, Pharm.D., M.P.H., FASHP, Larry D. AFFIDAVIT OF LARRY D. SASICH. 2 Dec. 2013.
- ↑ Pilkington, Ed (2013-07-18). "Georgia court blocks Warren Hill execution as state acquires new drugs". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2025-02-27.
- ↑ "INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY: Georgia Inmate Appeals Intellectual Disability Claim to U.S. Supreme Court". Death Penalty Information Center. Retrieved 2025-02-27.
- ↑ "The Case of Warren Hill". Death Penalty Information Center. Retrieved 2025-02-27.
- ↑ "Owens v. Hill". Justia Law. Retrieved 2025-02-27.
External links
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