Officials have said that no further lethal-injection executions may take place in Arizona until two of the three drugs needed are produced to fill a shortage.

The Arizona Republic reported on Thursday that the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists reported a shortage both of thiopental sodium, a barbiturate that renders the prisoner unconscious, and pancuronium bromide, a paralytic that holds the condemned person still while the final and fatal drug, potassium chloride, is injected.

The newspaper further said that the shortages were caused mostly by manufacturing issues.

Both of the drugs in short supply are manufactured by Hospira, a Chicago-area pharmaceuticals company. A company spokesman, Dan Rosenberg, said he hopes to have the drugs available by the end of September.

The Republic also reported that anesthesiologists may substitute drugs, but executioners may not, as lethal-injection protocol is established by state law.

The agency has a supplier for the drugs used in Arizona for execution purposes but that there are currently no warrants of execution pending, said a state Department of Corrections spokesman. (With Inputs from Agencies)