For decades, the standard emergency treatment for anaphylaxis — the sudden, life-threatening whole-body allergic reaction triggered by insect stings, foods, medications, latex, and other allergens — has been epinephrine administered by intramuscular injection, typically delivered by the patient or a bystander using an EpiPen or similar autoinjector. Epinephrine is highly effective and saves lives. The autoinjector device has been available for over 40 years.
And yet, study after study has documented the same alarming finding: people who need epinephrine during anaphylaxis — and who have an autoinjector prescribed and physically available — often do not use it in time. Fear of needles, anxiety about self-injection, hesitation about whether the reaction is "severe enough" to warrant the shot, and the physical complexity of operating the device under panic conditions all contribute to delayed epinephrine administration — and delay is a primary driver of anaphylaxis deaths.
