Cloned rats will improve drug research

French company genOway, Europe's leading provider of transgenic cellular and animal models, and its partner INRA (Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique), have succeeded in producing the world's first cloned rats.

Cloning will aid in the development of genetically modified rat models of greater predictability and quality, and scientific results obtained from these models will contribute to the development of innovative therapeutics.

genOway has been able to clone the rat by applying a proprietary technology platform derived from nuclear transfer. The adult male and female cloned rats are fertile and exhibit no abnormalities.

The company is now focusing on the generation of cloned animals with specific genetic modifications (knock-out and knock-in rats) that are designed to provide improved models for highly relevant therapeutic areas such as cardiovascular and neuroscience. In parallel, genOway is also working on new and better models for toxicology and pharmacology studies, two key steps in the drug development process.

'This success represents an important result for the pharmaceutical industry, as biopharmaceutical companies can now look forward to significant productivity increases in their r&d process by using genetically modified rats,' said Alexandre Fraichard, ceo of genOway. 'We are currently working on building an international consortium that would bring together pharmaceutical companies and biotech companies with the objective of developing knock-out and knock-in rat models targeting therapeutic areas of high unmet medical need, such as hypertension, obesity, diabetes and neurological disorders.'