diff --git a/numpy/lib/format.py b/numpy/lib/format.py
index 84af2afc84b1..363bb2101d5b 100644
--- a/numpy/lib/format.py
+++ b/numpy/lib/format.py
@@ -454,7 +454,9 @@ def _filter_header(s):
 
     tokens = []
     last_token_was_number = False
-    for token in tokenize.generate_tokens(StringIO(asstr(s)).read):
+    # adding newline as python 2.7.5 workaround
+    string = asstr(s) + "\n"
+    for token in tokenize.generate_tokens(StringIO(string).readline):
         token_type = token[0]
         token_string = token[1]
         if (last_token_was_number and
@@ -464,7 +466,8 @@ def _filter_header(s):
         else:
             tokens.append(token)
         last_token_was_number = (token_type == tokenize.NUMBER)
-    return tokenize.untokenize(tokens)
+    # removing newline (see above) as python 2.7.5 workaround
+    return tokenize.untokenize(tokens)[:-1]
 
 
 def _read_array_header(fp, version):