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# Penicillin Shortage Hurting Syphilis Patients
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/penicillin-shortage-hurting-syphilis-patients/
- Published: 2016-05-26T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T21:05:36.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: Drugs, #legacy-id-D5135773

A shortage of Pfizer’s Bicillin L-A (penicillin G benzathine), the recommended treatment for patients with syphilis and the only treatment available for pregnant women who are infected with or exposed to syphilis, is creating problems according to a National Public Radio [report](http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/05/23/477653310/penicillin-shortage-could-be-a-problem-for-people-with-syphilis?ref=fdaweb.com). The company has told consumers that it is experiencing “an unanticipated manufacturing delay” and would be providing just one-third of the usual monthly demand until July.

The antibiotic can be used against other bacteria, like the one that causes strep throat, the report says, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has asked healthcare providers to save the drug for people with syphilis, especially pregnant women. CDC medical epidemiologist **Sarah Kidd** is quoted as saying that the real tragedy is that syphilis is a treatable infection. “It is becoming a more common infection,” she said, “and because this is the preferred regimen for treatment for syphilis, it really is a critical problem for syphilis control.” She said the CDC is working with state health departments to identify where there are shortages and send supplies of the medication there.

“If patients have to go to a different clinic or place to get their Bicillin shot, it just increases the odds of transmission further before they’re cured,” she said. “So it’s another potential barrier in the prevention and control of syphilis.”

University of Utah Health Care Drug Information Service director **Erin Fox** said her organization is currently following 200 active drug shortages, better than the 300 they had been tracking in the past. She said that most shortages are due to manufacturing problems that can take months or even years to resolve.

The report says that generic drug injections, like Bicillin L-A, are particularly prone to shortages because they are inexpensive and hard to make, so that only a few companies produce them. “The supply chain is really fragile because we really only have just a small number of companies that make these products,” Fox said. “And so when you have a small number of factories and one has a problem, there just isn’t additional capacity to make up that difference.”