On July 15, the A-share market showed notable structural divergence, with the innovative drug sector leading gains across the board. Multiple sub-segments including CRO, weight-loss drugs, recombinant proteins, cellular immunotherapy, and generic innovation drugs all surged over 4%. On the same day, a piece of news about laboratory monkeys began circulating in the industry: the price of cynomolgus monkeys has exceeded 200,000 RMB per animal, and many monkey farms have told buyers that "this year's monkeys are already fully booked."
These two seemingly unrelated pieces of information point to the same logic – R&D activity in innovative drugs is rebounding, and laboratory monkeys are the most direct "thermometer" of this recovery.
01 Why Are Monkey Prices Rising Again?
Recently, Red Star Capital Bureau visited experimental monkey breeding enterprises in Guangxi, Guangdong, Sichuan and other regions, and found that most monkey farms have already had this year's cynomolgus monkeys fully reserved by partners, and next year's production capacity is also difficult to promise. In terms of pricing, adult female monkeys are generally quoted at around 200,000 RMB per animal, with mixed-gender purchases (half male, half female) priced at about 190,000 RMB per animal; purchasing only females or only males is more expensive, costing an additional 20,000–30,000 RMB per animal.
According to publicly disclosed bidding information on the China Government Procurement Network, on June 16, the National Institutes for Food and Drug Control's unit price for cynomolgus monkeys rose to 178,000 RMB. On June 29, a public tender announcement from the National Institutes for Food and Drug Control showed a procurement budget of 7.6 million RMB for 40 cynomolgus monkeys (20 males and 20 females, aged 3–5 years), with the unit price already reaching 190,000 RMB.
Behind the prices lies a structural supply bottleneck. Monkeys reproduce slowly, typically giving birth to a single offspring. Laboratory-bred monkeys must undergo pathogen testing and be at least 3 years old before they can be used for research. At the same age, rhesus monkeys are larger than cynomolgus monkeys, requiring higher drug dosages and greater costs in experiments, making cynomolgus monkeys the primary laboratory primate species.
According to projections from Zheshang Securities, the supply-demand gap for laboratory monkeys in China will be at least 15,000–20,000 animals between 2026 and 2028, and monkey prices are likely to remain high. Aging populations and low reproductive elasticity mean this gap will be difficult to close through "increased production" in the short term.
02 Behind the Gap – A Genuine Recovery in New Drug R&D
Whether monkeys are expensive or not is essentially a reflection of how hot new drug R&D is. According to the 2025 Annual Report on the Progress of New Drug Clinical Trials in China released by the National Medical Products Administration on June 22, the total number of clinical trials exceeded 5,000 for the first time in 2025, reaching a record high. Among these, new drug clinical trials accounted for 2,997, or 57.5%, representing an 18% year-on-year increase. Phase I clinical trials accounted for the largest share at 39%.
Order data also confirms this trend. On May 19, "monkey stock" Joinn Laboratories stated at its performance briefing that the company's new orders signed in the first quarter amounted to approximately 910 million RMB, a significant year-on-year increase of 111.6%, and the order volume and pricing levels in the second quarter generally continued the first-quarter trend. Benefiting from the continued recovery in pharmaceutical R&D demand, the rise in monkey prices can gradually transmit to the new order side, driving product sales prices upward in tandem, with positive linkage between volume and pricing in response to market supply-demand changes.
Joinn Laboratories also stated that the supply of cynomolgus monkeys in the industry remains tight. Changes in experimental monkey prices primarily stem from supply-demand structural shifts. Current demand has picked up, and supply-demand dynamics are on the tight side. However, given various uncertain factors, future price trends still require ongoing observation.
03 Beyond the Cycle – Looking at Industrial Resilience
The value of "upstream indicators" like experimental monkey prices lies not in short-term speculation, but in the fact that they are among the most honest leading signals of industry R&D prosperity – earlier than financial reports, and faster than order announcements.
Joinn Laboratories, as one of Efung Capital's partners, has been a window for us to observe industry cycles over the years. From the first round of monkey price surges in 2022, to the return to the 100,000 RMB mark in the second half of 2025, and now breaking through 200,000 RMB, each round of price fluctuations behind them corresponds to the ups and downs of innovative drug financing, clinical registrations, and BD transaction curves.
Efung's portfolio company Tianqin Biotechnology is likewise situated within this cycle – Tianqin is a CRO high-tech enterprise specializing in large-animal trials with a focus on new drug research and evaluation, and its business is directly correlated with changes in experimental monkey resource supply and demand.
Positioned within the industry chain, Efung has always believed that true certainty never resides in the ebb and flow of short-term sentiment, but rather in the resilience and momentum of the industry itself, which continues to move upward through every cyclical turn.