Drug & supplement interaction

Lychee + Durvalumab

Durvalumab brand name: Imfinzi.

Minor Interaction
Medically reviewed by · Updated September 2026
The bottom line Minor

Lychee has a minor interaction with Durvalumab. Theoretically, lychee might reduce the effectiveness of immunosuppressant drugs.

Read the full interaction report
SeverityMinor
LikelihoodPossible
EvidenceD
What do Severity, Likelihood & Evidence mean?
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Interaction report

Lychee and Durvalumab

Here is the interaction we found between these two, with the evidence behind it.

Minor

IMMUNOSUPPRESSANTS

Why this applies to Durvalumab

Durvalumab falls under IMMUNOSUPPRESSANTS — the group Lychee interacts with.

Theoretically, lychee might reduce the effectiveness of immunosuppressant drugs.
In vitro, flavonoids extracted from lychee show immunostimulant effects. So far, this effect has not been reported in humans.
Severity Minor Likelihood Possible Evidence D

Interaction has been documented in animal or in lab research, or the interaction has been documented in humans but is limited to case reports or conflicting clinical research exists.

Dr. Brian Staiger, PharmD, BCPS
Dr. Brian Staiger explains PharmD, Clinical Pharmacist

Here's the short version: this concern is mostly on paper, not in real patients. In lab dishes, the plant compounds (flavonoids) found in lychee seem to nudge the immune system on. The worry is that this could theoretically work against medicines that quiet the immune system. This effect has never actually been seen in people.

Durvalumab (Imfinzi) is a bit different from a typical immunosuppressant. It's a cancer immunotherapy that actually wakes your immune system up to fight tumors, so the idea of lychee "weakening" it doesn't fit neatly here. Enjoying lychee as a fruit is very unlikely to change how your treatment works. I'd just be cautious with concentrated lychee extract pills. Since you're on cancer therapy, run any supplement past your oncology team first.

Contact Dr. Brian directly if you have additional questions on this interaction
References
  1. Zhao M, Yang B, Wang J, et al. Immunomodulatory and anticancer activities of flavonoids extracted from litchi (Litchi chinensis Sonn) pericarp. Int Immunopharmacol 2007;7(2):162-6. PubMed

What These Ratings Mean

Every interaction above is graded three ways — here’s the key to each label.

Severity how clinically significant the interaction is
Major

Clinically significant. Avoid the combination, or use only under close professional supervision.

Moderate

Usually worth avoiding or managing — may need monitoring, a dose change, or timing apart.

Minor

Generally not serious. Be aware of it and mention it to your pharmacist.

Likelihood how strong the evidence is that the interaction actually happens in people
  • LikelyWell-controlled human studies have demonstrated the likely existence of this interaction.
  • ProbableInteraction has not been documented in well-controlled studies, however, the interaction has been demonstrated in some small human studies or in controlled animal studies in conjunction with multiple case reports.
  • PossibleInteraction has been documented in animal or in lab research, or the interaction has been documented in humans but is limited to case reports or conflicting clinical research exists.
  • UnlikelyInteraction has been demonstrated in animal or in lab research but has been shown not to occur in humans.
Evidence the quality of the studies behind the rating (graded A–D)
  • AHigh-quality meta-analysis (quantitative systematic review).
  • BCase-control study.
  • CConsensus.
  • DAnecdotal evidence.

These ratings are for information only. Never start, stop, or otherwise change your therapy before speaking with your provider.

Keep it in perspective

Lychee Also Interacts With Other Medications

Lychee has 86 moderate, 120 minor known drug interactions in our database — the Durvalumab one above is one of them. If you take anything else, check it against the full list below.

Moderate 86 Minor 120 No known interaction 2,624 (incl. Durvalumab)
Taking anything else?

Check Another of Your Medications Against Lychee

Covers the 2,830 medications we’ve checked against Lychee. Pick one to open its full report.

Everything else you take

See Every Supplement That Interacts With Durvalumab

This page covers Lychee only. If you take other supplements — a multivitamin, a sleep aid, something for joints — the Durvalumab page lists 54 supplements it has a documented interaction with, worst first, each one explained.

The most serious there right now: Active Hexose Correlated Compound (ahcc) (moderate), Alfalfa (moderate), American Ginseng (moderate), Andrographis (moderate) and Ashwagandha (moderate).

By severity: 52 moderate · 2 minor.

From our pharmacist’s overview on the Durvalumab page

“Nearly everything on this page interacts with durvalumab (Imfinzi) for the same underlying reason, immune stimulation. Durvalumab is a cancer immunotherapy, and because the treatment works through the immune system itself, supplements that push immune activity in their own direction (echinacea, ashwagandha, astragalus, and dozens of si…”

Reviewed by 2 · Jul 18, 2026

Open the Durvalumab interaction page

One more smart check

Taking Lychee as Part of a Dietary Supplement Product? Check It for Interactions

We hold 98 real supplement products containing Lychee, each one broken down to its full ingredient list — and combination products often carry several ingredients besides Lychee. Your product may carry other ingredients that interact with Durvalumab too, on top of Lychee — and those would not show on this page. Find your product and we’ll check every ingredient on its label:

How much people look this up

Where Lychee and Durvalumab Sit Against Everything Else

Out of every supplement and medication people look up on HelloPharmacist, here is where these two land this week — and which way each has been moving.

Supplement Lychee
Top half

#553 of 1,452 supplements looked up here in the last 7 days

29 days ago today
Medication Durvalumab
Steady interest

#2,192 of 2,830 medications looked up here in the last 7 days

29 days ago today

Position among everything looked up on this site, not a measure of how commonly either one is used or how important it is. A supplement can climb this list because of a news story. It counts every request to the page, automated ones included, and nothing here identifies anyone.

Supplement

About Lychee

What is Lychee?

  • General nutrition and antioxidant support
  • Digestive complaints (traditional use)
  • Cough and sore throat (traditional use)
  • Blood sugar support (preliminary)
  • Weight and metabolic support (preliminary)

Lychee is a sweet tropical fruit that is nutritious and a source of vitamin C and antioxidant plant compounds. While the fruit is a healthy food for most people, supplement-strength extracts have only limited research behind specific health claims, and eating large amounts of unripe lychee on an empty stomach has been linked to dangerous low blood sugar in undernourished children. Talk to your pharmacist or doctor before using lychee extracts for any health condition.

Read the full Lychee monograph & all interactions
Medication

About Durvalumab Injection

What Is Durvalumab Injection Used For?

Brand name: Imfinzi

Imfinzi is used to treat a wide range of cancers in adults. For lung cancer, it is approved for resectable non-small cell lung cancer (given before and after surgery), unresectable Stage III non-small cell lung cancer (after chemoradiation), metastatic non-small cell lung cancer, limited-stage small cell lung cancer (after chemoradiation), and extensive-stage small cell lung cancer.

Beyond lung cancer, Imfinzi is also approved for locally advanced or metastatic biliary tract cancer (cancers of the bile ducts and gallbladder), unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer), mismatch repair deficient (dMMR) advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer, BCG-naive high-risk non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer, muscle-invasive bladder cancer, and resectable gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma (stomach cancer at the junction with the esophagus). Most of these uses involve Imfinzi given alongside other chemotherapy drugs.

See full Durvalumab Injection drug information
Keep checking

Other Drugs & Lychee

Browse every other medication we’ve checked against Lychee — both the ones with a known interaction and the ones without. Select any drug for the full detail.

0Major
86Moderate
120Minor
2,623No known interaction
86 Moderate 120 Minor 2,623 No interaction
Moderate

86 interactions

Showing 60 of 86 moderate interactions — see all 86 on the Lychee page.

Minor

120 interactions

Showing 60 of 120 minor interactions — see all 120 on the Lychee page.

No interaction 2,623 drugs checked — show the list

We also checked Lychee against these medications and found no known interaction in our sources. Open any page to confirm.

Showing the 60 most looked-up of 2,623 medications checked with no known interaction — see the full Lychee list.

See the full Lychee interactions page
See every supplement checked against Durvalumab, ranked by severity
Sources

Sources & How We Checked

Interaction details are evidence-graded and sourced from the Natural Medicines database. The medication overview comes from MedlinePlus.

Content is written and reviewed by licensed HelloPharmacist pharmacists. See our data sources and editorial standards for how this information is built and checked.

Parts of this content are provided by the Therapeutic Research Center, LLC.

DISCLAIMER: Currently this does not check for drug-drug interactions. This is not an all-inclusive comprehensive list of potential interactions and is for informational purposes only. Not all interactions are known or well-reported in the scientific literature, and new interactions are continually being reported. Input is needed from a qualified healthcare provider including a pharmacist before starting any therapy. Application of clinical judgment is necessary.

© 2021 Therapeutic Research Center, LLC

Keep exploring
Lychee monograph › Uses, safety, and every drug interaction in one place Durvalumab supplement interactions › Every supplement checked against Durvalumab, ranked by severity Durvalumab Injection drug information › The full plain-English guide to this medication Supplement interaction checker › Check any supplement or product against your medications Browse medications A–Z › Every drug we've checked against herbs & supplements Ask a pharmacist › Free, personal answer from our licensed team
Pharmacist Counseling Corner

Taking Lychee and Durvalumab Together: Common Questions

Can you take Lychee with Durvalumab?
There is only a minor interaction, which is usually not serious. Read the full details on this page and confirm with your pharmacist before combining them.
How serious is the Lychee and Durvalumab interaction?
We rate it Minor. This interaction is generally not clinically significant, but it remains worth noting and discussing with your pharmacist.

Written and reviewed by the HelloPharmacist editorial staff. Our editorial policy

Still Have a Question About Durvalumab and Lychee?

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This information is for education only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always check with your pharmacist or doctor before starting, stopping, or combining supplements and medications.