China will lower retail price caps on 17 kinds of medicines by an average 19 percent from Dec. 12, China's top economic planner and price regulator said Tuesday.

The 17 kinds of drugs include antibiotics and medicines for cardio-cerebral vascular diseases, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said in a statement.

The move is expected to save consumers about 2 billion yuan (300.75 million U.S. dollars) each year, the statement posted on the NDRC website said.

The NDRC allowed some enterprises, including leading domestic medicine producers, to price high-quality medicine to encourage technological upgrade before 2005, the statement said.

As the cost of drug production has decreased due to technological advances, the NDRC decided to cut price caps, the statement said.