In 2010, in addition to the exclusive rights for the technology for the cloning of dogs from the Snuppy project, RNL Bio has acquired from Seoul National University, the exclusive rights to use Dolly Patents [somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT)] cloning technology on the non-transgenic dog cloning, following a recent court order on patent settlement with Start Licensing of US.

Through the acquisition of such rights, RNL Bio has become the unique entity in the business of providing dog cloning services worldwide. Not only that RNL Bio has the world-wide exclusive rights for cloning pet dogs and special-purpose dogs such as cancer and narcotic detection dogs, but it also has acquired the rights for transgenic dog cloning as well as cloning of endangered species. With this settlement, RNL Bio will expand its services overseas, as the world's sole dog cloning services provider, starting with countries that have the greatest demands such as the US, Japan, China and Russia.

Besides establishing a leading position in dog cloning, RNL Bio has launched commercial stem cell therapy for pets suffering from spinal cord injury in 2008. The company has also opened world's first integrated stem cell bank, called RNL Biostar to bank stem cells from cord blood, adipose tissues and placenta for animals in Rockville, Maryland, US. The company has cured old horse with ligament injury using fat stem cell therapy.

Expanding horizons

The work force of RNL Bio has grown over the period from five people in 2000 to 290 with 28 scientists. Currently, it has gross sales of $40 million with market capitalization of $350 million. The company has generated most of its sales from stem cell banking services. RNL Bio has signed 5,300 banking contract cases and 3,000 stem cell therapy cases.

The company plans to expand its business to cloning of detection dogs, theme park for cloned dogs, and development of improved breeds via transgenic cloning technologies. In order to meet the growing demands in dog cloning, RNL Bio is currently constructing the world's largest dog cloning research center in Yongin, Kyunggi Do, which is scheduled to open in April 2010.

On future plans, Dr Jeong Chan Ra, CEO of RNL Bio, says, "We are looking at achieving a sales of $900 million by 2012 with net profit of $50 million. To reach this target, we have set three goals: treating 100,000 patients all over the world, to complete standard therapy protocol for Buerger's diseases, osteoarthritis, spinal cord injury, rheumatoid, chronic renal failure, and Alzheimer's and finally to establish medical network of 200 stem cell therapy centers world over."

On receiving the BioSpectrum Asia Pacific Emerging Company of the Year 2010 Award, Dr Jeong Chan Ra, says, "In the 21st century, stem cells and their capacity to treat diseases have become a driving force in the field of biotechnology. We live in times where disease causes death of life-sustaining cells, but now, thanks to the regenerating mechanism found in stem cell, our future looks much brighter. We strongly believe that the life-saving stem cell therapies will be a central focus while developing medicine in future. RNL Bio is committed to creating and developing therapies that will not only prevent diseases but also ensure a better quality of life for all," he adds on a confident note.