BAC Water Education Article
Hospira Bacteriostatic Water: What It Is & USP-Grade Research Alternatives
Researchers often search for “Hospira” or “Pfizer” bacteriostatic water by name. This page explains what that product is and how Medibact’s USP-grade bacteriostatic water compares as an in-stock research-supply option. Informational and research-use only — Medibact is not affiliated with Hospira or Pfizer.
What is Hospira / Pfizer bacteriostatic water?
Hospira Bacteriostatic Water for Injection, USP is a pharmaceutical product made by Hospira, a Pfizer company. It is sterile water with benzyl alcohol added as a bacteriostatic preservative — its labeling specifies 0.9% (9 mg/mL) or 1.1% (11 mg/mL) — most commonly supplied in 30 mL multiple-dose vials(10 mL and multi-packs also exist). Because Pfizer owns Hospira, “Pfizer bacteriostatic water” and “Hospira bacteriostatic water” refer to the same product line. Supply can be intermittent, which is why research buyers often look for an equivalent, dependable source.
Hospira vs Medibact bacteriostatic water
| Attribute | Hospira / Pfizer | Medibact |
|---|---|---|
| Grade | USP | USP-grade |
| Preservative | Benzyl alcohol, 0.9% or 1.1% per labeling | 0.9% benzyl alcohol |
| Common size | 30 mL multi-dose | 30 mL multi-dose |
| Manufacturing | FDA-registered facility | FDA-registered U.S. facility |
| Positioning | Clinical/pharmacy supply | Research supply, in stock |
| Affiliation | Pfizer company | Independent (not affiliated) |
Comparison for research-supply education. Medibact is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or a distributor for Hospira or Pfizer.
What “USP” means on either label
The phrase most buyers are actually searching for when they type a brand name is a specification, not a manufacturer. “USP” refers to the United States Pharmacopeia monograph for Bacteriostatic Water for Injection, which defines what the product must be: water for injection with an added antimicrobial preservative, meeting compendial requirements for identity, purity, pH, particulate matter and bacterial endotoxins.
That matters for sourcing, because the monograph is brand-neutral. A product either meets it or does not. Hospira’s product meets it; so does the USP-grade bacteriostatic water Medibact supplies from an FDA-registered U.S. facility. The preservative system is the benzyl alcohol in both cases, which is what makes a vial multiple-dose — the preservative inhibits bacterial growth between entries rather than sterilising the contents after the fact.
The practical consequence: when researchers compare a brand-name vial against a research-supply vial, the meaningful questions are the grade, the preservative concentration, the fill volume and where it was manufactured — not the name printed on the label. Those are the attributes compared in the table above.
Reading the vial: what to check on any label
Whichever source a research buyer uses, the same five things on the label and carton carry the information worth checking. This applies equally to a brand-name vial and a research-supply vial:
- The full product name.“Bacteriostatic Water for Injection, USP” is a different product from “Sterile Water for Injection, USP” (no preservative, single-use) and from “Bacteriostatic 0.9% Sodium Chloride” (preserved saline, not water). The words after the first two are the ones that change what you are holding.
- The preservative statement. Look for the benzyl alcohol concentration stated explicitly — Bacteriostatic Water for Injection, USP is labeled at 0.9% or 1.1%. A vial that does not name a preservative is not bacteriostatic.
- The fill volume. 30 mL is the common multi-dose presentation; 10 mL vials also exist. Fill volume drives how many reconstitutions the vial supports, which is arithmetic covered further down this page.
- Lot number and expiry. Both should be legible on the vial itself, not only on the carton, and the lot on any accompanying paperwork should match the lot on the vial.
- The intended-use statement.Medibact’s vials are labelled and supplied for research use only. Pharmaceutical presentations carry their own regulatory labelling. The two are not interchangeable framings, and the label is what governs.
One sourcing note that applies to any in-demand brand-name product bought through third-party marketplaces rather than an authorised channel: the risk sits with the reseller, not the manufacturer. Unbranded outer packaging, missing lot numbers, prices far below the channel norm, or a refusal to say where stock was acquired are all reasons to pause. Buying from a source that states its own supply chain plainly removes the question entirely.
What the Hospira label actually lists
Two presentations are published under the Hospira labeling, and they differ in more than size. One is a plastic vial preserved at 0.9%; the other is a glass vial preserved at 1.1% with a 20 mL fill in a 30 mL container. Both are sold as a tray of 25 — a hospital wholesale unit, not a single retail vial, which is the practical reason a researcher rarely finds one vial for sale at a pharmacy counter.
| NDC | Unit of sale | Container | Benzyl alcohol |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0409-3977-03 | Tray of 25 | Multiple-dose 30 mL plastic Fliptop vial | 9 mg/mL (0.9%) |
| 0409-1093-04 | Tray of 25 | Multiple-dose 20 mL fill in 30 mL glass Fliptop vial | 11 mg/mL (1.1%) |
The label also states a pH of 5.7 (range 4.5 to 7.0), storage at 20 to 25 °C(USP Controlled Room Temperature), and that the semi-rigid vial is a specially formulated polyolefin — a copolymer of ethylene and propylene. Two restrictions are stated outright and are worth quoting accurately because they are the ones most often left off summary pages: because of benzyl alcohol’s potential toxicity in neonates, solutions containing it must not be used in that patient population, and preparations containing benzyl alcohol should not be used for fluid replacement.
Source: the Hospira Bacteriostatic Water for Injection, USP structured product label published on DailyMed (label revised 08/2019), read 2026-08-05. Hospira and Pfizer are third-party trademarks; Medibact is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or distributing for either company, and reproduces these label facts as published reference only.
Documentation: what actually exists for a USP product
“Hospira COA” is a common search, and the honest answer is that a compendial pharmaceutical product uses a different documentation model from the one researchers are used to in the grey research-chemical market. A product manufactured to a USP monograph in an FDA-registered facility is released against that monograph; the label claim plus the lot number are the trail, and the manufacturing quality system sits behind them.
By contrast, the per-batch third-party certificate of analysis familiar from peptide sourcing exists precisely because those compounds have no monograph, no registered manufacturer standing behind them, and no compendial release to point at. The COA fills a gap. For bacteriostatic water, that gap is filled by the monograph itself — which is why the meaningful trust signals here are USP grade and an FDA-registered manufacturing facility, in that order.
The practical takeaway is not that documents are worthless, but that a certificate should be treated as supplementary. If a reseller supplies one, the useful check is whether the lot number on the certificate matches the lot on the vial you received.
Why brand-name supply is intermittent
Bacteriostatic water reaches pharmacies and clinics through the pharmaceutical wholesale channel, where sterile injectables are subject to allocation, backorder and periodic supply interruption as a matter of course. Nothing about that is unusual or specific to one manufacturer — it is how that distribution system behaves for low-margin, high-volume sterile products generally.
What it means for a research buyer is simply that availability is not something you can plan around. That, far more than any difference in the water itself, is why researchers searching a brand name end up looking for an equivalent USP-grade source they can order directly and re-order predictably.
What a 30 mL multi-dose vial covers
This is container arithmetic — 30 mL divided by the volume used per reconstitution — and nothing more. It does not indicate how much diluent any particular protocol calls for, which is outside the scope of this page.
| Diluent volume per reconstitution | Reconstitutions per 30 mL vial |
|---|---|
| 1 mL | 30 reconstitutions |
| 2 mL | 15 reconstitutions |
| 3 mL | 10 reconstitutions |
| 5 mL | 6 reconstitutions |
Because the vial is preserved and multi-dose, it is designed to be entered more than once — the reason the 30 mL presentation is the common one in both pharmaceutical and research supply. To work through concentration figures for a specific vial, use the reconstitution calculator or the peptide reconstitution chart. Both handle concentration and volume math only; neither produces a dose.
A dependable USP-grade option for research
If you are sourcing bacteriostatic water for peptide reconstitution in a research setting, Medibact supplies USP-grade bacteriostatic water (sterile water with 0.9% benzyl alcohol) produced in an FDA-registered U.S. facility, in 30 mL vials, for research use only. See the bacteriostatic water for peptides guide and the vial sizes comparison.
FAQ
What is Hospira bacteriostatic water?
Hospira Bacteriostatic Water for Injection, USP is a pharmaceutical product from Hospira (a Pfizer company): water for injection with benzyl alcohol added as a bacteriostatic preservative, labeled at 0.9% (9 mg/mL) or 1.1% (11 mg/mL), and supplied in a multiple-dose container from which repeated withdrawals may be made — most commonly a 30 mL vial. “Pfizer bacteriostatic water” refers to the same product line.
Is Medibact affiliated with Hospira or Pfizer?
No. Medibact is an independent research-supply vendor and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or a distributor for Hospira or Pfizer. We reference the brand only for comparison, because researchers frequently search for it.
Is Medibact bacteriostatic water the same formulation as Hospira's?
Both are USP-grade bacteriostatic water — water for injection with a benzyl alcohol preservative system. Medibact's is the 0.9% presentation; Hospira's labeling covers 0.9% and 1.1%. Medibact supplies USP-grade bacteriostatic water produced in an FDA-registered U.S. facility, packaged for research use, in 30 mL vials.
Where can I buy Hospira bacteriostatic water?
Hospira/Pfizer bacteriostatic water is distributed through pharmaceutical wholesalers and pharmacies and can be intermittently out of stock or access-restricted. For research-use buyers who need a dependable, in-stock USP-grade option, Medibact stocks bacteriostatic water for research supply.
What does the “USP” on the label actually mean?
USP refers to the United States Pharmacopeia monograph for Bacteriostatic Water for Injection. It sets the identity, purity and preservative requirements the product must meet — including the antimicrobial preservative and limits on particulate matter and endotoxins. It is a compendial standard rather than a brand: any product meeting the monograph is USP-grade, which is why Hospira's product and Medibact's USP-grade bacteriostatic water share the same core specification.
What is the NDC number for Hospira bacteriostatic water?
The Hospira labeling lists two presentations: NDC 0409-3977-03, a tray of 25 multiple-dose 30 mL plastic Fliptop vials preserved with 9 mg/mL (0.9%) benzyl alcohol, and NDC 0409-1093-04, a tray of 25 multiple-dose vials with a 20 mL fill in a 30 mL glass Fliptop container preserved at 11 mg/mL (1.1%). Both are wholesale trays rather than single retail vials, which is a large part of why a single brand-name vial is hard to buy directly. These figures are from the manufacturer's structured product label on DailyMed; Medibact is not affiliated with Hospira or Pfizer.
Why can I not buy a single vial of Hospira bacteriostatic water?
Because the published unit of sale is a tray of 25. Both Hospira NDCs are wholesale hospital packs that move through the pharmaceutical distribution channel, where sterile injectables are also routinely subject to allocation and backorder. Nothing about that is specific to this manufacturer — it is ordinary behaviour for low-margin, high-volume sterile products — but it does mean brand-name availability is not something a research buyer can plan around, which is why the search usually ends in looking for an equivalent USP-grade source that can be ordered directly.
Is there a certificate of analysis for Hospira bacteriostatic water?
Pharmaceutical products manufactured to a USP monograph in an FDA-registered facility are released against that monograph, and the label claim plus the lot number are the documentation trail — that is a different system from the per-batch third-party COAs common in the grey research-chemical market. If a reseller offers a lab COA for brand-name bacteriostatic water, treat it as an extra document rather than as the primary assurance, and check that the lot on the certificate matches the lot on the vial in your hand.
Why is Hospira bacteriostatic water often out of stock?
It moves through the pharmaceutical wholesale channel, where allocation, backorders and periodic supply interruptions are normal for sterile-injectable products. Availability at any given pharmacy or distributor is therefore inconsistent, which is the main practical reason research buyers look for an equivalent USP-grade source they can order directly.
How much does a 30 mL vial of bacteriostatic water cover?
That is container arithmetic, not a dosing figure: a 30 mL multi-dose vial divided by the volume used per reconstitution gives the number of reconstitutions it supports — for example 30 reconstitutions at 1 mL each, 15 at 2 mL, or 10 at 3 mL. How much diluent any particular protocol calls for is outside the scope of this page.
Is this page personal-use or medical guidance?
No. This is research-use product education and brand comparison only. It is not medical advice or personal-use guidance.
Educational use only — not medical advice. This guide summarizes information reported in published research and community practice for educational purposes. It is not medical advice and not a recommendation to use any compound. Any doses, schedules, or combinations shown are examples of what has been reported, not instructions for you. Many peptides described here are research compounds that are not FDA-approved for the uses discussed and may be investigational or restricted. Effects, risks, and legal status vary; individual needs and results vary. Consult a qualified, licensed healthcare professional before making any decision. Do not use this content to diagnose, treat, or dose yourself.