A 66-year-old man has become the fourth person in the world to receive a genetically edited pig kidney transplant, marking another major step in the field of xenotransplantation. The surgery was performed at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in the United States as part of an experimental program aimed at addressing the shortage of transplantable human organs.
Tim Andrews, the recipient, had been on dialysis for more than two years due to end-stage kidney disease. His O-positive blood type made it difficult to find a suitable human kidney donor, and he likely would have had to wait over five years for a transplant. However, thanks to this groundbreaking procedure, Andrews is now off dialysis for the first time since his diagnosis.
“I believe that this is the start of something that is going to be fantastic,” Andrews said in a video posted by MGH. “It’s going to be the option for people that don’t want to be on dialysis. They want to be able to be with their kids and their loved ones.”
The transplant used a pig kidney with 69 genetic modifications, provided by the US-based biotech company eGenesis. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the procedure under its expanded access program, which allows experimental treatments for patients with life-threatening conditions.
Xenotransplantation—the transplantation of cells, tissues, or organs from one species to another—has been gaining attention as a possible solution to the severe shortage of human organ donors. According to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), more than 100,000 people in the US are waiting for organ transplants, with over 93,000 specifically in need of a kidney.
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Experts believe that genetically edited pig organs could help save thousands of lives by reducing long wait times for transplants.
This was MGH’s second gene-edited pig kidney transplant. The hospital performed the first in March 2024 on a 62-year-old man named Rick Slayman. While Slayman died two months later from sudden cardiac causes, MGH stated that his death was not related to the transplant.
Other hospitals have also conducted similar procedures. NYU Langone Health has performed two gene-edited pig kidney transplants. One of the recipients, Towana Looney, became the longest-living patient with a pig kidney as of last month. However, the second recipient, Lisa Pisano, faced complications. Her pig kidney had to be removed after six weeks due to blood flow issues, and she later died in July 2024.
Despite some setbacks, researchers remain hopeful that xenotransplantation will eventually become a standard medical procedure.
While these transplants have been performed under the FDA’s expanded access program, the field of xenotransplantation is still in its early stages. On February 3, the FDA approved the first clinical trial for gene-edited pig kidneys, which will be conducted by eGenesis’ competitor, United Therapeutics.
The trial will initially include six patients with end-stage kidney disease and later expand to 50 participants. The first transplant is expected to take place in mid-2025.