LONDON, Oct. 19 -- The spare adrenaline kept in a school office could soon look very different. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) opened a consultation today on letting schools buy and hold adrenaline nasal sprays for emergency use on pupils with severe allergies, a needle-free alternative to the auto-injectors schools can already hold.

The proposal, run jointly with the Department of Health in Northern Ireland, would amend the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 so the legal exemption that lets schools keep auto-injectors without a prescription for a named pupil also covers the sprays. The MHRA is an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care, and Health Minister James Frith said giving school...