China to lift price controls on most drugs starting June 1

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese regulators say they will lift price controls on most medical drugs starting June 1 in hopes that a more market-driven pricing system will keep medical costs in check.

The National Development and Reform Commission announced Tuesday that it would abandon the decades-long practice, except for narcotics and some psychological drugs, as part of drug price reform.

The commission says it will leave the setting of drug prices to market competition.

Chinese consumers have long complained of high drug costs. Authorities have in the last couple of years cracked down on rampant bribery by pharmaceutical companies which had inflated drug prices.