ARS Pharmaceuticals, the maker of neffy, is stepping up efforts to boost awareness of its needle-free epinephrine spray ahead of fall’s back-to-school season.
The company has teamed up with the pharmaceutical giant ALK-Abelló A/S to broaden U.S. doctors’ awareness of the auto-injector nasal spray. The Danish firm’s sales force will promote neffy to pediatricians alongside its own immunotherapy tablets and extracts.
The campaign is launching just as neffy for smaller children – a 1 milligram (mg) dose for kids weighing 30 to 66 pounds – hits pharmacies’ shelves.
Pediatricians write 30 percent of epinephrine prescriptions in the U.S. and are important in ensuring children are protected in case of severe allergic reactions, says Richard Lowenthal, ARS Pharma’s President and CEO.
Yet pediatricians are only writing 9 percent of neffy prescriptions, a sign that more awareness is needed, he says. Allergists, along with nurse practitioners and physician assistants working at allergy clinics, currently write the bulk of neffy prescriptions.
“We want to make sure pediatricians are very comfortable with neffy and have all the information they need,” Lowenthal says.
Summer is a critical time for raising awareness, he adds. It’s when kids head off to summer camp and families go on vacation. Also, many parents schedule check-ups for their kids to have prescriptions renewed and anaphylaxis emergency action plans filled out before the new school year.
Neffy for Smaller Children Available
In March 2025, the Food and Drug Administration approved the 1 mg neffy dose for children 4 years and older. The company announced the lower dose version became available for pharmacists to order as of May 7, 2025.
The approval of the 1 mg sprayer followed the FDA’s August 2024 approval of the 2 mg dose for adults and children weighing at least 66 pounds. That approval made neffy the first needle-free treatment for serious allergic reactions due to food, insect sting or drug allergies.
With both the 1 mg and 2 mg sprayers now available, the upcoming school year will be the first that children of all ages with severe allergies have the option to carry the epinephrine nasal sprayers instead of auto-injectors.
“We believe this will give young patients and caregivers greater peace of mind as they head into the new school year,” Lowenthal says.
Young children may be “more likely to speak up about symptoms of a serious allergic reaction when they know epinephrine can be given without a needle,” says Sung Poblete, PhD, RN, CEO of Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE). “The expanded availability of neffy represents real progress for our community,” she says.
To reach families directly, ARS Pharma has also launched a marketing campaign. As well, it has partnered with FARE on public service announcements starring former New England Patriot Jason McCourty.
“My playbook? Read labels, keep it allergy friendly and have an epinephrine nasal spray as a backup plan,” McCourty says. The PSAs feature his daughter, Kai, who a peanut allergy.
Nasal Epi Insurance Coverage
ARS Pharma is also working to make neffy easier to access through expanded insurance coverage. The company is negotiating with insurers to cover the medication without prior authorization.
So far, 19 insurers, including United Healthcare, Express Scripts, Cigna Healthcare, OptumRx, Navitus Health Systems, and Tricare, cover neffy without prior authorization. Other commercial insurers require prior authorization, while some are still not covering neffy. A full list is here.
Medicaid recipients in Texas, Alabama and Montana can also get neffy without prior authorization.
Neffy in Canada, EU, UK
Internationally, ARS Pharma will also work with ALK-Abelló to market neffy in Canada, the U.K. and the European Union.
The European Commission approved the 2 mg EURneffy for the emergency treatment of allergic reactions in the European Union in August 2024. ARS Pharma has filed for European approval of the 1 mg sprayer for smaller children.
The 2 mg sprayer should be available in Germany in June, Lowenthal says.
The company is waiting on approval of the 2 mg sprayer in Canada and the United Kingdom. In Canada and the U.K., it will be called EURneffy. An approval decision is expected in the U.K. this summer, and by the end of 2025 in Canada, Lowenthal says. Approval in Japan is expected in the fall.
School Free Device Program
More than 1,000 U.S. schools have received free doses of the 2 mg sprayer through ARS Pharma’s neffyinSchools program. Another 300 have placed orders for the 1 mg dose, which will start shipping next week.
The school’s program provides two cartons (four doses) of neffy to public and private K-12 U.S. schools. Schools can order additional free doses when the product is used or expires.
Currently, only about 10 states allow neffy to be used as “stock epinephrine.” Stock epinephrine is kept on hand for any child or staff member who needs it during an allergy emergency, without a prescription.
Although nearly all states allow or even require stock epinephrine in schools, the laws were mostly written before neffy’s approval. Many specifically call for auto-injectors. Efforts are underway in numerous states to update laws or regulations to allow other forms of epinephrine, including neffy.
The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA) has created an advocacy toolkit to help food allergy families push for updating state laws to permit all forms of stock epinephrine in schools. It includes sample letters to legislators and tips for talking with elected officials.
Lowenthal says school nursing groups have said they prefer needle-free delivery and support updating the laws. “The states are changing their legislation pretty quickly,” he says.
Related Reading:
Neffy Epi Data: Real-World Feedback and Congestion Studies
Food Allergy Families Struggling with ‘When’ to Use Epi
