Hopes for needle-free allergy spray to be approved

Medics have said an adrenaline nasal spray to treat allergic reactions "could be a real step forward" if approved in Guernsey.

EURneffy is a needle-free medicine used to treat of severe allergic reactions, known as anaphylaxis, which specialists said could help those with a fear of injections.

The spray was approved by the UK medicines regulator in July 2025 but it is not currently available on Guernsey's prescribing list.

Marc Jenkins, senior pharmacist in the Prescribing Support Unit, said medication underwent a "thorough clinical and financial assessment" before a decision was made by the Therapeutics Advisory Group for local use.

Henry, 13, who is allergic to many tree nuts, is among those who said he would benefit from the nasal spray.

He said the spray would "be easier for others to use too, since needles can be quite scary and intimidating".

His mother Anna said it felt "very reassuring" that the medication was "simple to use" for her son and anyone else needing to use it.

William, 12, who is allergic to wheat and gluten and has an anaphylaxis to dairy, said a nasal spray would "be easier and less scary" to use.

His mum Sarah described one experience where they had to use an EpiPen.

"An anaphylactic reaction is already a stressful enough situation so not having a needle, not having to stress about how to use a needle, will just make such a big difference," she said.

"William already has to use nasal sprays every day so that's just part of his routine so it'll be so much easier."

Allergy specialist Dr Michael Blyth said the island's allergy leads had submitted a request to the Prescribing Support Unit to get the spray on to the prescribing list, also known as the whitelist.

He said approval of the medication "could be a real step forward" for some patients.

However, he said there were financial considerations in approving the medication.

He said: "The biggest pitfall and the reason why it has to go through kind of the checks and balances is it's slightly more expensive per device compared with the EpiPen... the flip side of that is they do have a longer shelf life [than EpiPens]."

Fellow specialist Dr Vicky Carré said the nasal spray may not be the right option for everyone but hoped it would be rolled out in Guernsey "very soon".

"Fear of injections can be a significant barrier to carrying an adrenaline auto-injector or using it promptly during a reaction," she said.

Jenkins said the process undertaken by the Prescribing Support Unit aimed to "ensure that any new treatments made available are safe, effective and represent the best use of healthcare resources".

"In addition, each medicine has its own prescribing, monitoring and service requirements which must be established before it can be introduced into routine practice," he said.

"As these requirements vary between treatments, and capacity to undertake clinical assessments can fluctuate, it is not possible to provide a standard timescale for individual applications."

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