The value of an experimental crab-eating macaque has now caught up to that of a household sedan.

On June 16, results for a procurement project from the China Institutes for Food and Drug Control covering 40 crab-eating macaques showed that the unit price had risen to 178k yuan per macaque; just half a month later on June 29, in the agency’s new round of procurement budget, the unit price climbed further to 190k yuan.
According to reports, current spot market quotes have generally reached 180k–200k yuan per macaque, and export-grade SPF macaque sources are even more expensive. Compared with the average of about 92k yuan per macaque around May 2025, in just a little over a year, the price of lab macaques has nearly doubled.
The surge in “macaque prices” has directly ignited the CRO (pharmaceutical R&D outsourcing) and innovative drug sectors.
On July 15, the CRO index surged strongly intraday, with leading players all hitting near-four-year highs; innovative drug concept stocks also rose sharply in tandem.
One analyst joked, “If you want to stand among the monkeys, don’t stand there like a monkey.”