Pfizer's shortage of penicillin G benzathine injection, an antibiotic for syphilis and other bacterial infections, is now predicted to last until the end of 2024.
Pfizer previously said the medication's supply would rebound by the end of June, but in a March 8 update on the FDA's drug shortage website, the drugmaker said the estimated recovery date is the fourth quarter of 2024.
Two solutions are in limited availability and another, the 600,000 [iU]/1 mL solution, is unavailable until its next shipment in April.
The FDA first reported the supply issue in April 2023, and Pfizer then said it would end within five months. A year later, clinicians are rationing penicillin, and the U.S. is importing solutions from a France-based drugmaker as syphilis rates dramatically increase.