Monkeys cloned for drug research

China has cloned two monkeys using the same method that created Dolly the sheep in Scotland, paving the way for more accurate and affordable animal testing for new drugs, scientists said on Thursday.

Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua, the primates, were created using the nuclear transfer of somatic cells, an organism's nonreproductive cells, at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Neuroscience.

The duo, both born late last year, are being bottle-fed and are growing normally. Researchers said a third clone, Meng Meng, is expected late this month or early next month if everything goes smoothly.