(AP) – Missouri’s top corrections official is standing by the state’s current protocol that keeps the name of the company that provides an execution drug a secret.

Corrections Department Director George Lombardi told a House committee Monday that the secrecy is necessary to carry out executions in the state.

Missouri has executed three men with injections of pentobarbital, a powerful sedative acquired from a compounding pharmacy. The state considers the pharmacy to be a member of the “execution team,” which protects its identity from public records requests filed under state law.

Kansas City attorney Joseph Luby, who represents death row inmates, says the protocol prevents defendants from getting information that would be critical in appealing their sentences.

Missouri’s next execution is scheduled for Feb. 26.