Is durvalumab covered by medical insurance?

Durvalumab/Infinifer (Durvalumab), as an anti-PD-L1 immunotherapy drug, has been officially launched in China, but it has not yet entered the national medical insurance catalog. This means that patients need to bear the cost of medicines themselves when receiving treatment, and the financial pressure is relatively high.

Currently, the common specifications of durvalumab in the Chinese market are120mg/2.4mL and 500mg/10mL, and the price gap between different packages is large. According to public information, the price of each box is usually between 4,000 yuan and 10,000 yuan. For patients who require long-term medication, this cost burden cannot be ignored. Compared with some PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors that have been included in medical insurance, the accessibility of durvalumab is relatively limited in China.

Judging from international experience, durvalumab has been widely used in Europe and the United States and other countries, and has been approved for multiple tumor indications, such as small cell lung cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, endometrial cancer, cholangiocarcinoma, liver cancer, bladder cancer, etc. In some countries, it has even been incorporated into the medical payment system, reducing the burden of medication for patients. The negotiation mechanism of domestic medical insurance is usually determined based on the clinical value and efficacy advantages of drugs and the willingness of pharmaceutical companies to reduce prices. In recent years, a number of immunotherapy drugs have entered the medical insurance catalog through negotiation. Therefore, it is still possible for durvalumab to enter medical insurance in the future, but it needs to comprehensively consider the policy cycle, market competition and pricing strategy.

For patients, if they want to use durvalumab, they can purchase it directly through hospital pharmacies or obtain it through imported drug channels in some areas. Since this drug is mainly used for maintenance treatment after radiotherapy and chemotherapy and as a combination drug for some patients with non-small cell lung cancer, the treatment cycle is long, so the cost issue often becomes one of the factors that patients are most concerned about.

Reference materials:https://www.imfinzi.com/