Agnates

'Agnate' is the term used by Merrick Biotech to describe their clones.

Agnates are primarily used as insurance policies or surrogate parents.

Insurance policies
The insurance policies are kept in the Institute until their sponsors require a medical transplant of some sort. Once Merrick Biotech is informed, they arrange for the agnate to win the Lottery in order to remove them from the active population without suspicion, and then harvest the agnate for whatever is required by the sponsor. Once the agnate has served their purpose, they cannot be reintroduced to the active population and so are terminated, assuming they survived the harvesting procedure.

Surrogate parents
The surrogate parents (usually mothers) are created to donate gametes or carry children where the sponsor cannot or will not. Most commonly we see pregnant agnates who supposedly get an immediate pass to The Island when they go into labour. In actuality, they are brought to the Med Sector to give birth and then be euthanised.