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Drug prices expected to drop

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-05-02 13:46

Prices of certain drugs are expected to drop after a recent investigation carried out to ease patients' financial burden, state media reported Tuesday.

The probe into 21 pharmaceutical factories, conducted by the National Development and Research Commission, was the first of its kind in China, China Daily said.

The drug producers probed are both domestic and foreign-invested, and companies involved in drug imports were also investigated, the paper said, adding that the result has not been released yet.

Pharmaceutical factories jack up the prices of their products to gain huge profits and the soaring prices have been blamed as a key reason for the hefty costs of medical treatment, the paper said.

Despite 17 rounds of drug price cuts, usually by 20-40 percent, people continue to say the costs of medical service are unaffordable, it said.

In some cases, the retail price of the drugs was 10 times what it cost to produce, it added.