China’s lab monkey prices hit Covid-era highs on new drug R&D demand

A boom in China’s new drug research and development is driving laboratory monkey prices back to coronavirus pandemic-era highs, forcing some researchers to halt their studies. According to Guo Xiangyu, a scientist at Jinan University in Guangzhou whose research focuses on developing non-human primate models for major brain diseases, laboratory monkey prices have risen steadily since Chinese New Year. Suppliers are now generally quoting about 180,000 yuan (US$27,000) per animal. “It is not just…