China is planning to slash the prices of 160 drugs, most of them foreign-made, in a bid to reduce the mounting financial healthcare burden for ordinary citizens, state media said.

The National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top planning agency, decided on the cuts after carrying out an investigation of the price of drugs compared against the cost of producing them, the China Daily reported.

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

Of the 160 drugs facing price cuts, 130 were foreign-made, according to the paper.

The report did not identify any of the drugs. It also did not say by how much the prices would be slashed, or whether the price reduction would be compulsory.

China's healthcare system has been almost entirely privatized in recent years, turning clinics and hospitals into businesses that see it as their main mission to make money.

The result has been a steep rise in healthcare costs for ordinary Chinese families.

This, along with the disappearance of other welfare benefits such as education, has been identified as a major cause behind sluggish consumption as people, worried about the future, save a large part of their income.