Sacks of pungent animal feed cram the corridors of a Cyagen Biosciences Inc. center for laboratory mice in southern China, maximizing space for rodents that sell for as much as $17,000 a pair.
Demand is skyrocketing in China for animals that mimic the diseases of humans. President Xi Jinping's drive to turn the country into a biomedical powerhouse by 2025 has pushed the country deeper into drug discovery and to the forefront of genetics. That is helping fuel a global market for gene-altered mice predicted to expand 7.5 percent a year to top $1.59 billion by 2022.
Cyagen is raising 8,000 mice and 2,500 rats in a pathogen-free facility in a science park on the outskirts of Guangzhou. It has also converted a former clothing factory near Shanghai, enabling the 13-year-old company to supply another 100,000 custom-bred laboratory animals to universities and pharmaceutical companies undertaking everything from basic scientific research to complex drug-development projects.