Biotech, cloning and de-extinction
16 cases in 12 countries, 1987–2022. Most cases: United States (8), United Arab Emirates (3), South Korea (3), Vietnam (1), Germany (1).
Colossal Biosciences: de-extinction ventures, funding and the Burgum remark
Colossal Biosciences announced in April 2025 pups it presented as dire wolves; the IUCN Canid Specialist Group said they were not, and the company's chief scientist later described them as cloned grey wolves with 20 edits. The company announced a valuation of US$10.2 billion in January 2025, up from US$1.5 billion, and the US Interior Secretary cited the announcement while criticising the endangered species list.
Bolt Threads Microsilk and SPAC listing
Bolt Threads, a U.S. company making silk-like protein by yeast fermentation, sold 50 Microsilk neckties in 2017 and listed on Nasdaq through a special-purpose acquisition merger in 2024. Its 2024 revenue was $1.37 million against a net loss of $65.4 million.
Kraig Biocraft Laboratories: recombinant spider silk claims
A Michigan company that breeds genetically modified silkworms announced record cocoon output in 2026 and described it as spider silk. The announcements gave cocoon weight but not the share of spider protein, revenue or customers.
adidas unveiled a shoe prototype made from AMSilk spider-silk fibre
A 2016 adidas Futurecraft Biofabric prototype was made from AMSilk's bacterially produced silk fibre, and no retail sale is on record. At stake for nature is whether the fibre can replace conventional materials at a scale that changes their land and resource use, a question the sources do not settle.
Sinogene pet and police dog cloning (China)
Sinogene, a Chinese company, sold dog and cat clones and kept more than 1,000 beagles as egg donors and surrogates, according to a 2019 report. In South Korea a state agency produced six cloned working dogs in 2013.
South Korea's Rural Development Administration cloned six working dogs in 2013
South Korea's Rural Development Administration produced six clones of quarantine, police, army and rescue dogs in May 2013, at 46 million won a clone. The sources do not show how the dogs were used or any effect on nature.
Kheiron Biotech expects to produce about 400 polo horse clones in 2025
Kheiron Biotech, an Argentine firm, sells cloned polo horses and told Gazeta do Povo/Reuters it expected about 400 clones in 2025. The sources do not connect the work to any conservation outcome.
Dubai camel cloning centre reported 28 pregnancies in 2021
A Dubai centre clones camels for Gulf clients, who pay 200,000 to 400,000 dirhams a clone, according to a 2021 report. The sources do not connect the trade to any conservation outcome.
Spiber collapse and restructuring
A Japanese maker of fermentation-derived protein fibres, reported to have raised more than 100 billion yen, entered private restructuring in December 2025 after reporting 414 million yen of revenue for 2024. A state-backed fund that had invested about 14 billion yen exited in June 2026.
ATryn: a drug made in goat milk
ATryn, an antithrombin made in the milk of genetically engineered goats, was approved in the EU in 2006 and in the US in 2009. Its EU marketing authorisation was withdrawn in December 2018 for commercial reasons; it had not been sold since 2015.
Hwang Woo-suk and the Sooam cloning business
A South Korean cloning scientist, convicted in 2009 of embezzling research funds and breaching the Bioethics Law, later worked in the United Arab Emirates, where he said he had cloned more than 150 camels. Much of the record on his later cloning company is unconfirmed.
FDA 2008 clone food decision
On 15 January 2008 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration declared meat and milk from cattle, pig and goat clones and their offspring as safe as that of conventional animals and set no labelling requirement.
Nexia Biotechnologies: BioSteel spider-silk goats and Protexia
A Canadian company announced goats that produced a spider-silk protein in their milk and promised bulletproof vests and surgical thread. Its sellable asset proved to be a nerve-agent antidote made the same way, and the company went bankrupt in 2009.
Biosphere 2 experiment
Eight people lived for two years in a sealed 1.27-hectare structure in Arizona. Oxygen fell from 20.9% to about 14.5% over about 16 months and oxygen was supplied from outside.
Black-footed ferret cloning (Antonia) and wild plague
A black-footed ferret cloned from cells frozen in 1988 gave birth in 2024, the first clone of a U.S. endangered species to produce young. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said no release of the clone or her young was planned.
PPL Therapeutics collapse and transgenic sheep cull (Scotland, New Zealand)
PPL Therapeutics, the company created to commercialise the research behind Dolly the sheep, laid off about 90% of its staff in July 2003 and began culling a New Zealand flock of about 4,000 transgenic sheep.