diff --git a/dev/run-pip-tests b/dev/run-pip-tests
index 60cf4d820941..b978e1f7f447 100755
--- a/dev/run-pip-tests
+++ b/dev/run-pip-tests
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ for python in "${PYTHON_EXECS[@]}"; do
     VIRTUALENV_PATH="$VIRTUALENV_BASE"/$python
     rm -rf "$VIRTUALENV_PATH"
     if [ -n "$USE_CONDA" ]; then
-      conda create -y -p "$VIRTUALENV_PATH" python=$python numpy pandas pip setuptools
+      conda create -y -p "$VIRTUALENV_PATH" python=$python numpy pandas pip "setuptools<46.1.0"
       source activate "$VIRTUALENV_PATH"
     else
       mkdir -p "$VIRTUALENV_PATH"