It seems as though there’s an increasing demand for mice in recent years, with scientists aiming to have gene-edited mice in order to have them mimic human diseases.

These mice, known in the science world as CRISPR modified rodents, are being sold for as much as seventeen thousand dollars a pair. Predictions have it that by the year 2022, this industry will be valued at a shocking $1.59 billion.

According to a Harvard Medical School professor, Charles Lee who has been studying these gene edited mice with the goal of finding new cures for cancer in China, these experiments are the closest thing possible to human beings, and it allows him to explore the ways in which tumors grow in the body.

Lee explains that research done through a test tube is not quite the same as actually examining the process through a real life organism.

Although seventeen thousand dollars is no small price, can we really put a value on finding a cure to medical diseases?