diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index a8fcb29..63e1008 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@
 from importlib.util import module_from_spec, spec_from_file_location
 from pathlib import Path
 
-from pkg_resources import parse_requirements
 from setuptools import find_packages, setup
 
 _PATH_ROOT = os.path.dirname(__file__)
@@ -20,8 +19,8 @@ def _load_py_module(fname, pkg="litai"):
 
 
 def _load_requirements(path_dir: str = _PATH_ROOT, file_name: str = "requirements.txt") -> list:
-    reqs = parse_requirements(open(os.path.join(path_dir, file_name)).readlines())
-    return list(map(str, reqs))
+    with open(os.path.join(path_dir, file_name)) as f:
+        return [line.split("#")[0].strip() for line in f if line.strip() and not line.startswith("#")]
 
 
 about = _load_py_module("__about__.py")