An experimental monkey of 160,000 yuan, more than 10 times the price of leading pharmaceutical companies "hoarding monkeys" in 4 years
Pharmaceutical R&D companies are buying lab monkeys in a big way.
On June 6, Zhaoyan New Drug (603127.SH; 06127.HK) announced that Yingmao Biotechnology has become its wholly-owned subsidiary, and 20,000 experimental monkeys will gradually be placed under the name of Zhaoyan New Drug.
The Red Star Capital Bureau found that there are still many CRO companies like Zhaoyan New Drug that "hoard monkeys".
The shortage of supply has also made the worth of the experimental monkeys soar.
Take the most widely used cynomolgus monkey as an example: the previous unit price was less than 7,000 yuan, but it has soared to 160,000 yuan, and the price has soared more than 20 times.
According to data, there are only about 30,000 experimental monkeys in the country at present, and there are growing calls for "priceless monkeys" in the market.
Behind the price increase, on the one hand, under the background of the new crown, the R&D demand of pharmaceutical companies has expanded, and government investment has also increased; on the other hand, on the supply side, it takes nearly 4 years for monkeys to be used for experiments, and an experimental monkey is usually only used for A disease study.
Chengdu Business Daily-Red Star News reporter Deng Lingyao drawing Li Kaihong
Data: West China Securities Research Institute
monkey prices skyrocket
Pharmaceutical companies directly acquire "Monkey Farm"
In April of this year, Zhaoyan New Drug disclosed the acquisition of 100% equity of Yunnan Yingmao Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Yingmao Biotechnology") and Guangxi Weimei Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Weimei Biotechnology"), with a total acquisition of over 1.8 billion yuan. .
According to public information, the two companies are laboratory animal suppliers, and the laboratory animals they supply include cynomolgus monkeys and rhesus monkeys required in the process of pharmaceutical research and development.
As soon as the news came out, due to insufficient market supply, CRO companies frantically "hoarding monkeys" and the phenomenon of high monkey prices attracted more and more attention.
Zhaoyan New Drug once mentioned in the prospectus that the unit price of cynomolgus monkeys in 2014 was 6,567 yuan per piece, and the price of cynomolgus monkeys has continued to rise since then.
Red Star Capital Bureau searched the public bidding and procurement projects on the official websites of relevant institutions and found that monkey prices have risen rapidly in recent years:
In 2018, China National Institute for Food and Drug Control purchased a total of 600 cynomolgus monkeys for experimental use, with a budget of 8.4 million yuan, and the average budget of each cynomolgus monkey was 14,000 yuan;
In 2019, China National Institute for Food and Drug Control purchased a total of 400 cynomolgus monkeys for experimental use, and the budget amount rose to 12 million yuan. In just one year, the average budget amount of each cynomolgus monkey rose to 30,000 yuan;
By March 2022, the China National Institute for Food and Drug Control purchased a total of 40 cynomolgus monkeys for experimental use, with a budget of 5.3 million yuan and a unit price of 132,500 yuan.
In addition, some industry insiders told the Red Star Capital Bureau that according to their understanding, the unit price of cynomolgus monkeys even reached 160,000 yuan.
Why is it so popular
The closest to the human, the experimental effect is better
In fact, not only Zhaoyan New Drugs, but also leading companies such as WuXi AppTec (603259.SH; 02359.HK) and Pharmaron (300759.SZ; 03759.HK) have long realized the importance of stockpiling experimental monkeys.
In 2020, WuXi AppTec's wholly-owned subsidiary acquired Guangdong Chunsheng Monkey Farm and harvested more than 20,000 cynomolgus monkeys; 100% equity of Biotech, and won more than 10,000 experimental monkeys.
Forced to increase prices too fast and supply too little, pharmaceutical companies directly acquire Houchang in order to be self-sufficient, which has become a major path to maintain R&D in recent years.
The Red Star Capital Bureau learned that compared with mice and rabbits, monkeys are the closest to humans, and they are also the most ideal animals for experiments, and the results are better.
"Using monkeys to do experiments, one is social influence, the other is importance." Yang Zhanqiu, a professor at the Institute of Virology, Wuhan University School of Medicine, told the Red Star Capital Bureau that monkeys are needed for diseases similar to those that are more contagious and more harmful. One of the reasons for the recent surge in demand for cynomolgus monkeys after the COVID-19 outbreak.
In this regard, the attending physician with a tumor direction introduced to the Red Star Capital Bureau, "The immune system of monkeys is most similar to that of humans, so the monkeys used in experiments are mainly related to diseases that stimulate the immune system. Taking tumors as an example, currently the fastest tumor treatment The method is immunotherapy, which requires animal monkeys that are the closest to the human immune system, and the drug regulatory department also looks at the relevant data (experimental monkeys) when reviewing the results of preclinical experiments.”
This also means that, in addition to the demand brought about by the closest physiological mechanism, the review requirements of the drug regulatory authorities have also promoted the growth of CRO companies' demand for experimental monkeys.
Behind the price increase
The limited number of species of monkeys takes 4 years to grow
Yang Zhanqiu introduced to the Red Star Capital Bureau with his experimental experience that there are not many farms raising cynomolgus monkeys in my country. In addition, the experimental monkeys need to ensure that their age, weight and pathogens in the body meet certain standards, so the cynomolgus monkeys are more expensive. .
"Different from mice, a special breeding environment is required to purchase experimental monkeys," said Yang Zhanqiu.
In addition, it took nearly 4 years for experimental monkeys such as cynomolgus monkeys to be released for experiments, which further exacerbated the phenomenon of price increases.
Judging from government demands, expert answers, and corporate disclosures, generally speaking, monkeys that can be used for experiments must be 3-4 years old. In addition, it takes about half a year for breeding monkeys to breed. An experimental monkey goes from breeding to slaughtering. Its growth cycle takes about 4 years, which is much higher than that of other experimental animals such as mice and rabbits.
Cao Bo, a medical consultant for innovative medicines, also added to the Red Star Capital Bureau that the number of breeding monkeys is limited, and there are specific control requirements in some areas. In addition, the breeding monkeys need postpartum recovery after giving birth, which is also the reason why the supply of experimental monkeys such as cynomolgus monkeys is in short supply.
According to a related report from China News Weekly in April 2021, Zhang Yuchao, secretary-general of the China Experimental Primate Breeding and Development Association, said in an interview that there are currently more than 240,000 of the two main types of experimental monkeys in the country. The actual inventory of commercial monkeys is about 100,000. If the monkeys that are booked or underwritten overseas are removed, too young or "menopausal" monkeys, the domestic stock is only about 30,000.
On June 8, the Red Star Capital Bureau contacted Zhang Yuchao, but he said that he would not accept interviews on topics involving experimental monkeys.
Prices expected to fall after epidemic eases
The Red Star Capital Bureau learned that after the experimental monkey entered the experiment, the lifespan was only a few months.
"During our experiment, the monkeys were more active and not easy to manage. After the experiment was completed, the monkeys needed to be euthanized and then cremated." Yang Zhanqiu told the Red Star Capital Bureau.
While the experimental monkeys entered the experiment after purchase to euthanasia, the period was only a few months.
"Some (experiments) may be a little longer. For example, the time for AIDS observation is a little longer. For the new crown (experimental research), it is generally only a few months, and it will not be observed for a long time."
In addition, the Red Star Capital Bureau also learned that, generally speaking, an experimental monkey is only used in the study of one disease.
In other words, experimental monkeys are mostly used as "disposable items".
The irreproducibility of experimental monkeys further increases the cost and demand for preclinical experiments.
But in fact, experimental monkeys were not so in short supply before.
According to China Business News, the domestic experimental monkey market was once oversupplied, with 30,000 monkeys exported each year alone.
In January 2020, China's State Administration for Market Regulation and other departments jointly issued the "Announcement on Prohibiting the Trade of Wild Animals", requiring "the implementation of isolation in places where wild animals are raised in various places, and the proliferation and transshipment of wild animals are strictly prohibited."
China's experimental monkey import and export business was affected.
According to public information, the cynomolgus monkey, the monkey most used in the experiment, is not a native species and is mainly introduced from Southeast Asia.
At present, domestic experimental monkeys are mainly obtained from local monkey farms. Therefore, some market analysts say that with the further reduction of the impact of the epidemic, the shortage of domestic experimental monkeys may be alleviated.
deep sight
Will the rise in monkey prices affect the development of bio-innovative drugs in China?
Laboratory animals refer to animals whose microorganisms and parasites are controlled by artificial breeding, with clear genetic background or clear source, and are used for scientific research, teaching, production, verification and other scientific experiments.
Biomacromolecular drug candidates represented by monoclonal antibodies and cytokines, due to their strong antigenicity, are more likely to cause immune responses in the selected experimental animal species, resulting in the formation of anti-drug antibodies, which cannot be Effectively complete preclinical studies of drug candidates.
Therefore, the preclinical research of this type of biological macromolecular drugs has higher requirements on experimental animals than other fields, and it is necessary to select experimental animals with similar molecular targets and signal transduction pathways as humans.
Experimental monkeys have thus become the first choice for preclinical research on macromolecular drugs.
With the continuous acceleration of the research and development progress of innovative pharmaceutical companies, will the continuously high monkey price become a major bottleneck for the innovation of biomacromolecules in my country?
Analysts said that in the context of the current sharp rise in the price of experimental monkeys, a large number of "hoarding monkeys" in advance means that companies can lock in research and development costs at a low level.
However, in general, in the process of developing a new drug, the dosage of experimental monkeys is generally about 60. According to the average unit price of 100,000 yuan per monkey, the cost is about 6 million to 7 million yuan. In terms of the R&D cost of one billion yuan of biological drugs, the actual impact is not as huge as imagined.