China’s biotech boom pushes prices of lab monkeys higher
The surge in drug research in China has driven the cost of laboratory monkeys to around 140,000 yuan ($20,000), exceeding the country’s average annual salary.
Source Scmp
Over the past five years, prices for animals used in the preclinical phase to test drug safety and metabolism have doubled. This increase is linked to a rise in licensing deals between Chinese biotech firms and international pharmaceutical giants.
For instance, in early February, the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica held a tender for 450 Java macaques totaling 62 million yuan ($9 million), equating to about 138,000 yuan per animal. This price surpasses peak values from 2023 and is significantly higher than the 70,500 yuan price recorded in 2021, indicating continued growth in the cost of resources for biological testing.
