China will cut the prices of 182 medicines next week, saving consumers five billion yuan (US$650 million) in the country's latest effort to provide more affordable drugs, the top economic planning body said yesterday.

The new price caps involve more than 1,200 products, including drugs for treating digestive and respiratory ailments, pain killers, anesthetics and neural medicines, the National Development and Reform Commission said in a statement.

The reductions, averaging 19 percent and ranging up to 62 percent on some medicines, will take effect next Tuesday, the NDRC said.

Details on specific products were not released.

The statement also said the prices of 18 drugs that are in short supply will be raised "moderately" to encourage production.

NDRC Minister Ma Kai said last month that many medicines remained overpriced despite several reductions and that the medical system needed systematic reforms to ensure more affordable drugs.

"The drug market is very chaotic, and many medicines change their names to avoid price cuts," he said.

Ma said the government will reform the system that requires hospitals to make money by selling medicine. He also said he wanted problems in drug production and distribution addressed and corrections made to stamp out irregularities in the approval of new medicines.

The central government now fixes the prices of about 1,500 medicines, while local governments set the prices of more than 800.

Since the start of last year, the central government has lowered the prices of more than 900 drugs and raised the costs of more than 70 medicines.

Starting on May 1, governments at all levels were required to publish investigations into food and drug safety among other information crucial to the public interest.