Which Country Is Imfinzi (Durvalumab) Cheapest In? — 2026 Guide

Why does the price differ so much between countries?

Imfinzi (durvalumab) is a PD-L1 immune checkpoint inhibitor approved across an unusually broad span of solid tumours: consolidation therapy after chemoradiation in unresectable stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), metastatic NSCLC, extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (SCLC), and locally advanced or metastatic biliary tract cancer. That breadth means the same 120 mg/2.4 mL and 500 mg/10 mL concentrate vials move through oncology procurement budgets covering several tumour types at once, which shapes how national payers evaluate and reimburse it rather than treating it as a single-indication product. In Türkiye, the Ministry of Health anchors the reference price to the lowest ex-factory price found across a designated basket of EU member states, then converts it using the "pharmaceutical euro" (Dönemsel Avro Değeri), fixed at 65% of the previous year's average Central Bank euro rate rather than the live spot rate — a mechanism published via the TİTCK price list and gazetted in the Resmî Gazete.

Every Imfinzi vial is administered as an intravenous infusion inside a hospital or accredited infusion clinic, never dispensed for self-administration at a retail pharmacy, so its price sits inside the same institutional tender and procurement machinery as other hospital-administered oncology biologics rather than any consumer-facing pharmacy channel. That hospital-only route also means comparison shopping across borders is not a realistic patient option in the way it can be for an oral tablet.

Dosing for Imfinzi can follow either a weight-based regimen (mg/kg) or a fixed flat dose depending on indication and local label, and that dosing choice interacts with each country's reimbursement modelling — a fixed dose simplifies budget forecasting for a payer, while weight-based dosing ties expenditure to the treated population's body-weight distribution. Durvalumab also has no approved biosimilar or generic in any market where it is licensed, so unlike molecules facing biosimilar entry, Imfinzi's price is set almost entirely by each country's own negotiation or reference framework rather than by competitive erosion.

Germany applies its AMNOG framework: a newly launched oncology biologic like Imfinzi can be sold at a manufacturer-set free price for the first six months, after which a negotiated price is applied and backdated to month seven. In the United Kingdom, NICE evaluates cost-effectiveness against a cost-per-QALY threshold that was raised from the long-standing £20,000–£30,000 band to £25,000–£35,000, announced 1 December 2025 and effective from April 2026 (see NICE). The United States has no equivalent government reference mechanism for a hospital-administered biologic: pricing is essentially free at launch and negotiated privately between the manufacturer, payers and pharmacy benefit managers. Because most hospitals procure through tenders and confidential discounts rather than the headline list price, every cross-country comparison — including this one — should be read as a comparison of published reference prices, not of what any institution or patient actually pays. For the underlying mechanics of why Türkiye's published prices sit where they do, see our explainer on why medicines cost less in Türkiye.

How is the price set in each country?

The table below compares pricing systems, not prices. Each country publishes — or does not publish — its own official list, and that published list is the only figure worth relying on. Follow the link in the last column and read the current entry yourself.

How can I obtain a medicine legally from a lower-price market?

There is a lawful route in most countries, and it starts in the same place everywhere: a valid prescription in your own name, issued by the physician treating you. What differs is the import permit. The procedures below are stated only where they could be verified at the national authority.

United Arab Emirates. MOHAP operates a permit to import medicines for personal use through its Electronic Drug Establishment service. The permit is free and is issued within 3 working days. You log in with a MOHAP account or UAE Pass.

Saudi Arabia. Applications run through the SFDA Controlled Drugs System at cds.sfda.gov.sa, under a guideline published on 14 August 2025. Read the current SFDA regulations page before you travel — the requirements are revised periodically.

Qatar. For non-controlled medicines there is no pre-approval: you may carry up to a 60-day supply through the Green Channel, in the original packaging, with a copy of the prescription and a signed, stamped letter from your doctor. For controlled medicines you need advance approval and must use the Red Channel; supporting documents must be no older than 6 months and in Arabic or English.

Kuwait and Azerbaijan. Confirm the current procedure directly with the national authority before shipping or travelling — Kuwait Ministry of Health and Azerbaijan Tariff Council. We do not publish a step list for these two countries because the procedure could not be verified at source.

1. United Arab Emirates — obtain a prescription in the applicant's own name, issued within the last 3 months.
2. Obtain a medical report from the treating facility, authenticated by the health authority and issued within the last year.
3. Prepare an Emirates ID or passport copy for the applicant.
4. Log in to the MOHAP service with a MOHAP account or UAE Pass and submit the personal-import application.
5. Keep the quantity within the limit: no more than a 1-month supply for controlled medicines, and no more than a 3-month supply for non-controlled medicines.
6. Wait for the decision — the service is free and normally issued within 3 working days.
7. Contact MOHAP on 800 111 11 or at import.export@mohap.gov.ae if the application stalls.

What is named patient supply?

Named patient supply is the international concept behind almost every lawful cross-border medicine route. The clearest codified example is the United Kingdom's MHRA Guidance Note 14, built on Regulation 167 of the Human Medicines Regulations 2012.

Four conditions define it: the order must be unsolicited; the product must be specified by the prescriber; the prescriber must be directly responsible for the patient; and there must be a genuine special clinical need that no authorised product meets.

The honesty point matters here: the European Court has held that "financial considerations cannot, in themselves" establish a special clinical need. A lower price in another country is not, by itself, a lawful basis for a named-patient import. The lawful bases are clinical.

Is the Imfinzi I'm being offered genuine?

The WHO issued Medical Product Alert 5/2024 and Medical Product Alert 3/2025 concerning falsified Imfinzi identified in circulation, naming affected batches BAVX, BAZR, BBEG and AVZT — this is one of the few oncology biologics with a confirmed, named WHO falsification record, which makes independent batch verification a genuine necessity rather than a formality.

Because Imfinzi is a clear, colourless-to-slightly-yellow concentrate that must be diluted and infused promptly under refrigerated cold-chain custody, any deviation in vial appearance, closure integrity, or the batch number itself should stop administration until it is independently confirmed against the manufacturer and the WHO's published alert record.

• Cross-check the vial's batch number against WHO Medical Product Alert 5/2024 and 3/2025 — the named affected batches are BAVX, BAZR, BBEG and AVZT; any vial bearing one of these is falsified and must not be administered.
• Scan the carton's GS1 DataMatrix and confirm it decodes correctly to AI 01 (GTIN), AI 21 (serial number), AI 17 (expiry) and AI 10 (batch) — a code that will not scan, or scans to the wrong product, is a hard stop.
• If the vial is sourced in Türkiye, check that its karekod is notified to the national İlaç Takip Sistemi (İTS) track-and-trace system at its.saglik.gov.tr before it leaves the pharmacy.
• Ask for a continuous 2–8°C cold-chain excursion log covering the actual shipment you are receiving, not a generic certificate — Imfinzi vials must never be frozen or shaken.
• Review the full list of currently flagged batches and countries at our WHO falsified medicine alerts tracker before administration.
• Source Imfinzi only through a hospital pharmacy or authorised oncology distributor; AstraZeneca does not sell durvalumab through retail or online pharmacy channels.
• Review the full verification workflow in our guide to checking that a medicine is genuine.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Resmî Gazete — Beşeri Tıbbi Ürünlerin Fiyatlandırılmasına Dair Karar No. 11031 — retrieved: 2026-07-28
• TİTCK — published medicine price list — retrieved: 2026-07-28
• MOHAP (UAE) — import medicine for personal use — retrieved: 2026-07-28
• SFDA (Saudi Arabia) — regulations — retrieved: 2026-07-28
• SFDA Controlled Drugs System — retrieved: 2026-07-28
• Qatar MOPH — drug prices — retrieved: 2026-07-28
• Kuwait Ministry of Health — retrieved: 2026-07-28
• Azerbaijan Tariff Council (Tarif Şurası) — retrieved: 2026-07-28
• NICE (United Kingdom) — retrieved: 2026-07-28
• G-BA (Germany) — AMNOG benefit assessment — retrieved: 2026-07-28
• RAND — International prescription drug price comparisons (published 1 Feb 2024) — retrieved: 2026-07-28
• Frontiers in Pharmacology — European hospital price transparency study (9 Mar 2026) — retrieved: 2026-07-28
• MHRA Guidance Note 14 — supply of unlicensed medicinal products — retrieved: 2026-07-28

Country availability pages for this medicine

Related pages

Immune checkpoint inhibitors

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