Pet-Cloning Company Set To Fold, Cites Minimal Demand for Costly Service
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SAN FRANCISCO — Even for the most devoted pet lover, there’s a limit to how far they will go to have their favorite feline or canine for life.
Genetic Savings and Clone, a biotechnology company that sold cloned pets, sent letters to its customers last month saying it will close at the end of the year because of little demand for costly cloned cats. The company had reduced the price to $32,000 from $50,000. The company also failed in its attempts to clone dogs. The letters said the Sausalito company was not accepting new orders for clones because it was “unable to develop the technology to the point that cloning pets is commercially viable.”
Company chief executive Lou Hawthorne did not immediately return telephone calls Wednesday. A message on the company’s answering machine said it was no longer taking orders and referred customers interested in freezing their pets genetic material to the Austin, Texas-based biotechnology company ViaGen Inc. A ViaGen spokeswoman confirmed that Genetic Savings and Clone had closed and had refunded cloning fees. The company was launched by billionaire and University of Phoenix founder John Sperling, who had hoped to have his hunting dog, Missy, cloned — a feat that was never accomplished.
Since the company opened for business in 2000, it was behind the creation of five cloned cats but sold only two to paying customers.
