diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 0cf85d2918a5..60928a9779f6 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -29,7 +29,6 @@ jobs:
           - {VERSION: "3.10", TOXENV: "flake"}
           - {VERSION: "3.10", TOXENV: "rust"}
           - {VERSION: "3.10", TOXENV: "docs", OPENSSL: {TYPE: "openssl", VERSION: "3.0.5"}}
-          - {VERSION: "pypy-3.7", TOXENV: "pypy3-nocoverage"}
           - {VERSION: "pypy-3.8", TOXENV: "pypy3-nocoverage"}
           - {VERSION: "pypy-3.9", TOXENV: "pypy3-nocoverage"}
           - {VERSION: "3.10", TOXENV: "py310", OPENSSL: {TYPE: "openssl", VERSION: "1.1.0l"}}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/wheel-builder.yml b/.github/workflows/wheel-builder.yml
index ba3f91e39149..ef0684894a62 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/wheel-builder.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/wheel-builder.yml
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@ jobs:
       matrix:
         PYTHON:
           - { VERSION: "cp36-cp36m", PATH: "/opt/python/cp36-cp36m/bin/python", ABI_VERSION: 'cp36' }
-          - { VERSION: "pypy3.7", PATH: "/opt/pypy3.7/bin/pypy" }
           - { VERSION: "pypy3.8", PATH: "/opt/pypy3.8/bin/pypy" }
           - { VERSION: "pypy3.9", PATH: "/opt/pypy3.9/bin/pypy" }
         MANYLINUX:
@@ -34,8 +33,6 @@ jobs:
           - { name: "musllinux_1_1_x86_64", CONTAINER: "cryptography-musllinux_1_1:x86_64"}
         exclude:
           # There are no readily available musllinux PyPy distributions
-          - PYTHON: { VERSION: "pypy3.7", PATH: "/opt/pypy3.7/bin/pypy" }
-            MANYLINUX: { name: "musllinux_1_1_x86_64", CONTAINER: "cryptography-musllinux_1_1:x86_64" }
           - PYTHON: { VERSION: "pypy3.8", PATH: "/opt/pypy3.8/bin/pypy" }
             MANYLINUX: { name: "musllinux_1_1_x86_64", CONTAINER: "cryptography-musllinux_1_1:x86_64"}
           - PYTHON: { VERSION: "pypy3.9", PATH: "/opt/pypy3.9/bin/pypy" }
diff --git a/src/_cffi_src/utils.py b/src/_cffi_src/utils.py
index 95b548b61d8e..5b4f6a5c8b90 100644
--- a/src/_cffi_src/utils.py
+++ b/src/_cffi_src/utils.py
@@ -75,7 +75,13 @@ def build_ffi(
     if platform.python_implementation() == "PyPy":
         verify_source += r"""
 int Cryptography_make_openssl_module(void) {
-    return cffi_start_python();
+    int result;
+
+    Py_BEGIN_ALLOW_THREADS
+    result = cffi_start_python();
+    Py_END_ALLOW_THREADS
+
+    return result;
 }
 """
     ffi.cdef(cdef_source)