Mark Cuban's Cost Plus to import penicillin to address US shortage

[July 18, 2024]  (Reuters) - Mark Cuban's Cost Plus Drug Company said on Wednesday that it is working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to import and distribute penicillin in the country temporarily.

The online pharmacy, which offers low-cost common medications, will immediately import and distribute 1.2 million units of penicillin to mitigate the shortage of Pfizer's Bicillin L-A.

Last year in June, Pfizer had warned that the pediatric version of the drug, used to treat syphilis and other bacterial infections, could run out by the end of the quarter due to a spike in syphilis infections in adults.

In an update on June 10 of this year, Pfizer said that they currently have an "available supply" of 2.4 million units of Bicillin L-A.

However, the drugmaker noted that while supply is improving, it will not be fully available until later this year.

Cuban's Cost Plus will import Lentocilin brand penicillin powder marketed by Portugal-based Laboratórios Atral S.A.

Pharmacy employees check medicine supplies in a drugstore in this file photo. REUTERS/Gil Montano/File Photo

Lentocilin will be available only by prescription in the U.S. and is not FDA approved, Atral said in a statement.

Cost Plus did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

(Reporting by Sneha S K; Editing by Tasim Zahid)

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