Bacteriostatic Water Brands: Who Makes It and Who Only Puts a Label on It

1. The Short Answer

Most bacteriostatic water brands are one manufacturer's vial sold under different company names. Every FDA-approved bacteriostatic water vial we could find on DailyMed in September 2026 traces to Hospira, a Pfizer company, and the other names on those vials belong to relabelers and repackagers.¹ Retailers such as Mountainside Medical sell those vials but do not make them.

That matters because “brand” is doing three different jobs in search results: the company that makes the water, the company whose NDC is on the label, and the store that ships it to you. This guide separates them and shows how to tell which is which from the vial.

2. Manufacturer, Labeler, Distributor, Retailer

• Manufacturer. Makes and fills the vial under an FDA approval. Its name appears as “Manufactured by” or, for Hospira, “Distributed by Hospira, Inc.”¹
• Labeler or repackager. Buys the finished product and lists it under its own National Drug Code. The first segment of the NDC is the labeler's code, so the same water can carry several NDCs.
• Distributor or retailer. Sells the vial with the manufacturer's or labeler's NDC unchanged. The store's name is not on the label at all.
• Research-market brand. Sells its own water outside the drug approval system. There is no NDC to look up, so the certificate of analysis is the only evidence of what is in the vial.

3. Bacteriostatic Water Brands Compared on Checkable Facts

The table lists only companies whose labels or inserts we could verify. Every row is something you can check yourself against the cited document.

Sources: Hospira,¹² Henry Schein,³ HealthFirst,⁴ US MedSource⁵ and Medical Purchasing Solutions,⁶ ProPharma⁷ and Fujian Genohope⁸ labels on DailyMed; Fresenius Kabi package insert.⁹

4. What We Found in All 18 DailyMed Results

Brand roundups tend to list company names. We went to the register instead. A DailyMed search for “bacteriostatic water” in September 2026 returned 18 labels, and we opened every one. Only 7 were standalone bacteriostatic water vials. The other 11 were drug kits, where a vial of bacteriostatic water is packed in the carton with a specific drug: for example a 30 mL multiple-dose bottle with EGRIFTA WR,¹⁰ a 20 mL vial at 1.1% benzyl alcohol with TRAZIMERA,¹¹ and single-dose diluent vials at 1.5% benzyl alcohol with OMNITROPE.¹² Kit diluents ship in the carton with their drug; they are not sold as a brand of their own.

Of the 7 standalone labels, 6 trace to a single FDA approval. Drugs@FDA lists one bacteriostatic water application with a prescription marketing status: NDA 018802, Bacteriostatic Water for Injection in Plastic Container, held by Hospira and first approved on October 27, 1982.¹³ Two other applications, both held by Abraxis Pharm, are marked discontinued.¹⁴¹⁵ Each of the five relabeler and repackager listings names Hospira's 0409-3977 as its source NDC and NDA 018802 as its marketing authority.³⁷

The seventh label: an NDC without an approval

The seventh standalone label belongs to Fujian Genohope Biotech Ltd. It lists 30 mL multiple-dose vials, 25 to a carton, under NDC 84502-115, with a marketing start date of June 15, 2026. Its marketing category is “unapproved drug other,” and DailyMed shows FDA's standard notice that the drug has not been found by FDA to be safe and effective and that its labeling has not been approved.⁸

The lesson is about NDCs, not about one company. FDA states that assigning an NDC does not denote FDA approval, and that its NDC Directory includes unapproved drugs as well as repackaged and relabeled ones.¹⁶ An NDC tells you who listed a product. The marketing category on the DailyMed page tells you whether it is sold under an approval: “NDA” with an application number, or something else.

Who actually makes the Hospira vial

The printed Hospira label names one company: “Distributed by Hospira, Inc., Lake Forest, IL.” The establishment section of the same DailyMed listing goes further. It names two establishments that manufacture, pack, label and test both presentations: a Hospira, Inc. site and Pfizer Healthcare India Private Limited.¹ Relabeled vials add a third name, the relabeler, on top of both.

Reading the establishment list is the only way a buyer can see where a vial was made, and pharmacists have pushed for that information to reach the label itself. In a February 2026 ProPublica report on a Senate bill that would require labels to name the original manufacturer, a University of Utah pharmacist who has long tracked drug shortages put the case in one line:

5. Hospira and Pfizer: One Manufacturer, Two Presentations

Searches for “pfizer bacteriostatic water” and “hospira bacteriostatic water” lead to the same product. Hospira is part of Pfizer, and Pfizer's medical information site lists the two presentations: NDC 0409-3977-03, 25 plastic fliptop vials of 30 mL with 9 mg/mL benzyl alcohol, and NDC 0409-1093-04, 25 glass fliptop vials holding 20 mL with 11 mg/mL benzyl alcohol.² The DailyMed label covers both and describes the plastic vial as a semi-rigid polyolefin, a copolymer of ethylene and propylene.¹

For a line-by-line reading of that label, including storage and the newborn warning, see our Hospira bacteriostatic water guide.

6. Fresenius Kabi: A Different Preservative

Several brand roundups list Fresenius Kabi next to Hospira as a benzyl alcohol bacteriostatic water maker. The primary documents tell a different story. Fresenius Kabi's package insert, revised in July 2008, describes Bacteriostatic Water for Injection, USP in 10 mL and 30 mL multiple-dose vials under NDC 63323-249, preserved with 0.12% methylparaben and 0.012% propylparaben.⁹ There is no benzyl alcohol in that formula.

The same insert warns against using it for drugs that specify only Sterile Water for Injection, and tells users to check with a pharmacist when a drug may be incompatible with parabens.⁹ A drug label written around benzyl alcohol preserved water is not automatically satisfied by a paraben version.

In our September 2026 DailyMed searches we did not find a current Fresenius Kabi bacteriostatic water label. What Fresenius Kabi does list in its current catalog is bacteriostatic sodium chloride 0.9%, preserved with benzyl alcohol.¹⁷ That is saline, not water, and the two are not interchangeable. If you see “Fresenius bacteriostatic” on a listing, check whether it says water or sodium chloride, and which preservative. The bacteriostatic saline guide explains when each is used.

7. Labelers and Repackagers

Five companies appeared on DailyMed as relabelers or repackagers of bacteriostatic water in 30 mL vials:

• Henry Schein, a medical and dental distributor, lists NDC 0404-9970-30, one 30 mL multiple-dose vial per bag, with the same label language as Hospira's.³
• HealthFirst (HF Acquisition Co LLC, Mukilteo, Washington) lists NDC 51662-1473-1. Its label states that the product is distributed by Hospira.⁴
• US MedSource lists NDC 61699-3977, a 30 mL polyolefin plastic fliptop vial with 0.9% benzyl alcohol. Note the product digits, 3977, match Hospira's.⁵
• Medical Purchasing Solutions lists NDC 71872-7129-1 on a label DailyMed marks as repackaged.⁶
• ProPharma Distribution lists NDC 84549-977-03, a 30 mL multiple-dose vial with 0.9% benzyl alcohol and the same polyolefin vial description. Its listing names relabel and repack as its operations and started in October 2025, the newest of the five.⁷

These companies mainly supply clinics and offices that buy through them. Their NDCs are real and resolve on DailyMed; they are not a reason for suspicion. They are also not a separate source of water.

One name that often appears in these lists is Medefil. Its own product pages show Sterile Water for Injection in prefilled syringes, labeled preservative free. That is sterile water, not bacteriostatic water.

8. Retailers: Where Mountainside Medical Fits

Mountainside Medical Equipment is a medical supply retailer, not a manufacturer or labeler. As of September 2026, its bacteriostatic water collection features Hospira vials, including the 30 mL 25-pack, and its site states that purchase is limited to licensed healthcare professionals and registered facilities, with license verification. That matches the product's status: FDA-approved bacteriostatic water is labeled Rx only.¹

A retailer still affects what arrives. Storage matters: the Hospira label calls for 20 to 25°C (68 to 77°F).¹ So does packaging. A vial shipped in its original tray or bag, with the lot and expiry visible, is easier to check than a loose vial split from a case.

Other medical suppliers work the same way. When a store's name is the only “brand” you can see, look past it to the NDC on the vial. Our buying guide covers the different channels.

9. Research-Market Brands

Search terms like “e bacteriostatic water” most likely point to research-market names such as eBac. Research-grade brands, our own PureBac included, sell water made to the same formula (Water for Injection with 0.9% benzyl alcohol) outside the FDA drug approval system. PureBac has no NDC and is not an FDA-approved drug.

For any research brand, the checks change. There is no DailyMed label, so the questions are about testing: does the seller publish a lot-specific certificate of analysis, and does it report benzyl alcohol assay, pH, endotoxin and sterility against the USP limits, such as endotoxins under 0.5 EU/mL?¹⁸ Our COA verification guide walks through each line. Each PureBac vial carries a QR code that links to its batch COA.

Why FDA-listed brands barely differ

Any product sold as Bacteriostatic Water for Injection, USP has to meet the same monograph: made from Water for Injection, a stated name and proportion of antimicrobial agent, endotoxins under 0.5 EU/mL, pH 4.5 to 7.0, sterility, and containers no larger than 30 mL with the newborn warning on the label.¹⁸ Within that frame, the variables a buyer can actually see are the preservative and its strength, the fill volume, glass or plastic, and who stands behind the label. Price and availability move with the seller, which is why the same Hospira vial can cost very different amounts at two stores.

10. How to Tell Manufacturer from Labeler on the Label

1. Read the NDC's first segment. 0409 is Hospira. 0404 is Henry Schein. 51662 is HealthFirst. 61699 is US MedSource. 71872 is Medical Purchasing Solutions. 84549 is ProPharma Distribution. A different labeler code on the same formula usually means a relabel.
2. Find the company line. “Manufactured by” names the maker. “Distributed by” or “Repackaged by” names someone further down the chain.
3. Look up the NDC on DailyMed. The label that comes back names the labeler and, on repackaged listings, is marked as such. Check the marketing category too: an approved vial shows “NDA” and an application number, and a relabeled one shows the source NDC it came from.³
4. Compare the formula lines. Benzyl alcohol percentage, fill volume and container material should match the DailyMed listing exactly. A vial that says 0.9% in glass under a Hospira NDC fits neither Hospira presentation.²

11. Summary

• Of 18 DailyMed results, 7 were standalone vials; every approved one traces to Hospira's NDA 018802.
• Henry Schein, HealthFirst, US MedSource, Medical Purchasing Solutions and ProPharma sell 30 mL vials under their own NDCs.
• An NDC is not an approval: one 30 mL listing on DailyMed is marked “unapproved drug other.”
• Fresenius Kabi's bacteriostatic water, per its 2008 insert, used parabens; we found no current label.
• Mountainside Medical is a retailer selling Hospira vials to licensed buyers.
• The NDC labeler code and the company line on the label tell you who made the vial.