Pfizer Warns Of Looming Penicillin Supply Shortage

Pfizer is facing a shortage of penicillin due to increased demand and more diagnoses of syphilis, the company said in a letter to its customers this week.

The company said there is an "impending stock out situation" for select Bicillin L-A and Bicillin C-R prefilled syringes, Pfizer's brand name of injectable penicillin.

Prefilled Bicillin L-A pediatric syringes are expected to begin running low by the end of June, while all Bicillin C-R syringes could begin diminishing in the third quarter of this year.

Inventory is predicted to start recovering in the second and third quarters of 2024, Pfizer said.

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Penicillin is an antibiotic used to treat various types of infections, including sexually transmitted diseases, such as syphilis and pneumonia.

Syphilis rates were at a historic low from 2000 to 2001, but have increased every year since, with an increase of 28.6% from 2020 to 2021, which was likely exacerbated by an interruption in treatment and prevention due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

The scarcity of penicillin comes amid a long-term shortage of prescription drugs the U.S. has been experiencing for the last decade, usually as a result of disruptions in the supply chain, like the one caused by the pandemic, Marta Wosińska, a visiting fellow at The Brookings Institution, told NPR earlier this year.

Other prescriptions, such as Adderall and children's flu medication have also been in short supply.