diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index ace2f88..ff45f1a 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -49,8 +49,10 @@ mypy:
 
 
 # Install and unit test
+# TODO: remove pin on pip and setuptools after removing numpy.distutils
 libpecos:
-	python3 -m pip install --upgrade pip
+	python3 -m pip install pip==23.0.1
+	python3 -m pip install "setuptools<=73.0.1"
 	${WARN_AS_ERROR_CMD} python3 -m pip install ${VFLAG} --editable .
 
 .PHONY: test
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index e32fc67..6589909 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 [aliases]
 test=pytest
 
+# TODO: remove pin on setuptools version after removing numpy.distutils
+[build-system]
+requires = ["setuptools<=73.0.1"]
+
 # Configuration for pytest; enable coverage for pecos, emit
 # XML, HTML, and terminal reports.
 [tool:pytest]
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index b522ca3..c689044 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -106,6 +106,7 @@ def get_blas_lib_dir(cls):
 
 # Requirements
 numpy_requires = [
+    'setuptools<=73.0.1', # TODO: remove pin on setuptools version after removing numpy.distutils
     'numpy>=1.19.5,<2.0.0; python_version>="3.8"'
 ]
 setup_requires = numpy_requires + [