OBJECTIVES: To compare the difference between the maximum retail price and tender price of brandname and generic drugs.   METHODS: A large database analysis was used. The database was formed by merging two sub-databases, one was the tender prices of 94 antimicrobial drugs and circulatory system drugs collected from the centralized tendering of drug purchases across all the provinces(autonomous regions, municipality directly under the central government) of mainland China over the period of 2005-2013, the other was the corresponding maximum retail prices issued by the National Development and Reform Commission of China. The percentage differences between the maximum retail price and tender price (provincial average) was then calculated by year for antimicrobial drugs and circulatory system drugs, respectively. The generic-brandname ratio of the concerned percentage differences was also calculated.     RESULTS: The percentage difference between maximum retail price and tender price for generic drugs was large, while the corresponding difference in brandname drugs was much smaller. The generic-brandname ratio of the concerned percentage differences  increased from 1.7 in 2005 to 5.7 in 2013, except a mild decrease in 2009 and a moderate decrease in 2012. CONCLUSIONS: It may be the time to lift price control on drugs in China since the maximum retail price issued by the national government was too high as compared with tender price to exert effect on generic drugs, while for brandname drugs the maximum retail price was too close to tender price, which also consequentially diluted the significance of maximum retail price.   KEYWORDS: Maximum retail price; Tender price; Price reform; large database analysis