 "How China's biotech research boom is sending lab monkey prices higher")
In the continuing deflationary environment in China’s economy, there is one price that appears to be appreciating, and it might not be good news for Chinese researchers and biotech firms. The prices of laboratory monkeys used for drug testing in China are rising again, reversing last year’s decline and approaching levels last seen during the pandemic. The prices are expected to reach 150,000 yuan per animal in early 2026, climbing to the highest level since the pandemic. It will mark a sharp rise from an average of about 103,000 yuan in 2025.
The increase is being driven by a faster-than-expected revival of biotech research combined with a structural supply lag in breeding capacity, according to a report by The Financial Times.
The price rise comes on the back of a record wave of deal-making, IPO activity and fresh venture capital flowing into Chinese biotech in 2024–25. Domestic companies concluded an unusually large number of licensing deals with global drugmakers, and several high-value agreements raised capital that has been channelled into research and development. That has pushed many drug candidates into mid- and late-stage work, the phases that usually require more extensive non-clinical testing in primates.
How lab monkey prices have fluctuated in China
After spiking during the Covid years, prices had fallen as investment tapered. In any case, the market for monkeys used in laboratories has a history of sharp volatility. For example, prices hit roughly 188,000–230,000 yuan in 2022–23, then eased to 80,000–125,000 yuan in 2023–24 as supply normalised and funding slowed.
However, the current rebound differs from the pandemic peak because it is driven primarily by renewed R&D activity rather than export bans or emergency demand, the London-based newspaper reported.
What is driving the renewed rise in prices
One of the major reasons for the price rise is that monkey breeding capacity has not kept pace, the Financial Times said. After the downturn that followed the pandemic surge, producers did not expand primate populations, which takes roughly four years to raise cynomolgus monkeys to an age suitable for most toxicity and safety studies.
The combination of a sudden increase in trial starts and the long biological lead time for breeding has produced what is described as a classic supply bottleneck.
How rising prices are affecting clinical research practices
As a result, clinical research organisations are reporting delays and rescheduling of programmes because of limited animal availability, the newspaper reported. Some laboratories have resorted to reusing animals for permitted tests after mandatory “washout” periods, a practice that can preserve output but yields data regarded as less valuable than results from previously unused, or “naive”, animals.
Why supply pressures are also mounting in the US
The shortage in China has had an indirect effect on global markets as well. US prices for long-tailed macaques rose sharply during the pandemic era and have remained above pre-Covid levels. Price averages in 2024–25 were higher than before the pandemic.
Before Covid, prices in the US ranged from $4,000 to $7,000 per monkey. They jumped five to 15 times between 2020 and 2023 amid China’s export halt, hitting $15,000–$60,000 for long-tailed macaques. By 2024–25, average prices hovered around $11,000–$35,000, with higher peaks amid ongoing shortages, according to a Nikkei Asia report.
The United States imports roughly 30,000 monkeys a year, mainly from Southeast Asia, including Cambodia and Mauritius, while domestic primate facilities such as several National Institutes of Health centres hold around 20,000 animals but prioritise rhesus macaques. These facilities face their own breeding limits.
The US Food and Drug Administration has made it easier to use monkeys in certain safety experiments, a move aimed at reducing medicine development costs alongside other strategies. Governments and pharmaceutical companies are also investing in alternatives such as in-silico models and other non-animal techniques, but these remain small-scale and cannot yet fully replace much of the primate testing.
Greater expenses for animals and limited availability will be borne by pharmaceutical developers and contract research organisations, which will face longer timelines and higher budgets for mid- and late-stage programmes. Analysts say only an expansion of breeding capacity can change the situation, as demand remains strong and price pressure is likely to continue.