It’s official – the first commercially cloned dog, a 10-week old Labrador pup named Lancey (main pic), was delivered by BioArts International on January 26 to Florida residents Edgar and Nina Otto. With a bid of US$155,000, the Ottos were the highest bidder in an auction held last July to be the first to clone their family dog. Lancey’s genetic donor, Sir Lancelot, died in January, 2008, and the Ottos had his DNA stored. Samples of the DNA were sent to the Sooam Biotech Research Foundation in South Korea in October, and Lancey was born on November 18, and flown to the U.S. on January 25.
BioArts International is a biotech company focused on unique, untapped markets in the global companion animal, stem cell and human genomics industries. The Best Friends Again program is a collaboration between BioArts and the Sooam Biotech Research Foundation in South Korea, home to the best and most experienced dog cloning team in the world.
BioArts has been granted the sole, worldwide license for the cloning of dogs, cats and endangered species. The license was granted by Start Licensing, Inc. and applies to the somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) cloning patents developed at the Roslin Institute for the cloning of Dolly the sheep.
