LAKE FOREST, Ill. The Food and Drug Administration has approved a generic, injectable antibiotic.

Hospira's meropenem for injection will be available in 500 mg and 1 g vials, the drug maker announced. It is a generic version of AstraZeneca's Merrem, a beta-lactam antibiotic. Meropenem represents the first U.S. drug launch from Hospira's recent acquisition of the generic injectables business of Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals.

Sales of Merrem totaled about $200 million in 2009.