The province may be gearing up for a showdown with pharmaceutical companies.

La Presse reports this morning that Quebec will cap the amount its prescription drug insurance plan pays for a widely-used category of medications used to treat gastric reflux and stomach ulcers.

Prescriptions for Nexium and drugs like it account for 7-percent of all plan expenditures.

The report says Quebec will soon announce that it will pay no more than 55-cents per pill. Right now, Nexium goes for $2.15 per pill, its generics, $1.30 per pill.