diff --git a/prometheus_client/exposition.py b/prometheus_client/exposition.py
index 93285804..0d471707 100644
--- a/prometheus_client/exposition.py
+++ b/prometheus_client/exposition.py
@@ -18,11 +18,9 @@
 )
 from wsgiref.simple_server import make_server, WSGIRequestHandler, WSGIServer
 
-from packaging.version import Version
-
 from .openmetrics import exposition as openmetrics
 from .registry import CollectorRegistry, REGISTRY
-from .utils import floatToGoString
+from .utils import floatToGoString, parse_version
 
 __all__ = (
     'CONTENT_TYPE_LATEST',
@@ -346,7 +344,7 @@ def choose_encoder(accept_header: str) -> Tuple[Callable[[CollectorRegistry], by
             # mimetype.
             if not version:
                 return (partial(openmetrics.generate_latest, escaping=openmetrics.UNDERSCORES, version="1.0.0"), openmetrics.CONTENT_TYPE_LATEST)
-            if version and Version(version) >= Version('1.0.0'):
+            if version and parse_version(version) >= (1, 0, 0):
                 return (partial(openmetrics.generate_latest, escaping=escaping, version=version),
                         f'application/openmetrics-text; version={version}; charset=utf-8; escaping=' + str(escaping))
         elif accepted.split(';')[0].strip() == 'text/plain':
@@ -355,7 +353,7 @@ def choose_encoder(accept_header: str) -> Tuple[Callable[[CollectorRegistry], by
             escaping = _get_escaping(toks)
             # Only return an escaping header if we have a good version and
             # mimetype.
-            if version and Version(version) >= Version('1.0.0'):
+            if version and parse_version(version) >= (1, 0, 0):
                 return (partial(generate_latest, escaping=escaping),
                         CONTENT_TYPE_LATEST + '; escaping=' + str(escaping))
     return generate_latest, CONTENT_TYPE_PLAIN_0_0_4
diff --git a/prometheus_client/openmetrics/exposition.py b/prometheus_client/openmetrics/exposition.py
index 1dc05c5b..5e69e463 100644
--- a/prometheus_client/openmetrics/exposition.py
+++ b/prometheus_client/openmetrics/exposition.py
@@ -4,9 +4,7 @@
 from sys import maxunicode
 from typing import Callable
 
-from packaging.version import Version
-
-from ..utils import floatToGoString
+from ..utils import floatToGoString, parse_version
 from ..validation import (
     _is_valid_legacy_labelname, _is_valid_legacy_metric_name,
 )
@@ -94,7 +92,7 @@ def generate_latest(registry, escaping=UNDERSCORES, version="1.0.0"):
                     timestamp = f' {s.timestamp}'
                 
                 # Skip native histogram samples entirely if version < 2.0.0
-                if s.native_histogram and Version(version) < Version('2.0.0'):
+                if s.native_histogram and parse_version(version) < (2, 0, 0):
                     continue
                 
                 native_histogram = ''
diff --git a/prometheus_client/utils.py b/prometheus_client/utils.py
index 0d2b0948..87b75ca8 100644
--- a/prometheus_client/utils.py
+++ b/prometheus_client/utils.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import math
+from typing import Union
 
 INF = float("inf")
 MINUS_INF = float("-inf")
@@ -22,3 +23,14 @@ def floatToGoString(d):
             mantissa = f'{s[0]}.{s[1:dot]}{s[dot + 1:]}'.rstrip('0.')
             return f'{mantissa}e+0{dot - 1}'
         return s
+
+
+def parse_version(version_str: str) -> tuple[Union[int, str], ...]:
+    version: list[Union[int, str]] = []
+    for part in version_str.split('.'):
+        try:
+            version.append(int(part))
+        except ValueError:
+            version.append(part)
+
+    return tuple(version)
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index af4c7f2f..86988592 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
 
 [project]
 name = "prometheus_client"
-version = "0.23.0"
+version = "0.23.1"
 description = "Python client for the Prometheus monitoring system."
 readme = "README.md"
 license = "Apache-2.0 AND BSD-2-Clause"
diff --git a/tests/test_asgi.py b/tests/test_asgi.py
index 386ff598..86431d21 100644
--- a/tests/test_asgi.py
+++ b/tests/test_asgi.py
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ def setUp(self):
 
     def tearDown(self):
         if self.communicator:
-            asyncio.get_event_loop().run_until_complete(
+            asyncio.new_event_loop().run_until_complete(
                 self.communicator.wait()
             )
             
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ def seed_app(self, app):
         self.communicator = ApplicationCommunicator(app, self.scope)
 
     def send_input(self, payload):
-        asyncio.get_event_loop().run_until_complete(
+        asyncio.new_event_loop().run_until_complete(
             self.communicator.send_input(payload)
         )
 
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ def send_default_request(self):
         self.send_input({"type": "http.request", "body": b""})
 
     def get_output(self):
-        output = asyncio.get_event_loop().run_until_complete(
+        output = asyncio.new_event_loop().run_until_complete(
             self.communicator.receive_output(0)
         )
         return output
@@ -229,6 +229,6 @@ def test_qs_parsing(self):
 
                 self.assert_not_metrics(output, *metrics[i_2])
 
-            asyncio.get_event_loop().run_until_complete(
+            asyncio.new_event_loop().run_until_complete(
                 self.communicator.wait()
             )
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index bef57f85..40337027 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -8,9 +8,6 @@ deps =
     pytest-benchmark
     attrs
     {py3.9,pypy3.9}: twisted
-    # NOTE: Pinned due to https://github.com/prometheus/client_python/issues/1020
-    py3.9: asgiref==3.7
-    pypy3.9: asgiref==3.7
 commands = coverage run --parallel -m pytest {posargs}
 
 [testenv:py3.9-nooptionals]