Successful Pig Kidney Transplant Saves Life, Sparks FDA Interest for Potential Thousands More
In a significant leap for medical science, the first-ever pig kidney transplant in humans took place at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in March 2024. The recipient, 62-year-old Rick Slayman, unfortunately passed away two months later due to unrelated cardiac issues, not organ failure.
This pioneering surgery was part of a series of transplants under compassionate use protocols, with MGH and another biotech company, eGenesis, leading the charge. Tim Andrews, 67, was the first patient in the eGenesis program and has survived more than seven months without dialysis after receiving a pig kidney.
The approach used by eGenesis involves the use of CRISPR to remove a pig gene that produces a carbohydrate called alpha-gal. This modification aims to reduce the risk of rejection by the human immune system.
Another patient, Towana Looney, lived dialysis-free for 130 days before an unrelated infection required the removal of the transplanted kidney.
The U.S. transplant system is under immense pressure, with over 100,000 Americans waiting for an organ, most of whom need a kidney. The transplant waitlist includes about 86,000 people waiting for a kidney, with the average wait time being three to five years. For those with Type O blood, the wait can stretch to a decade.
The FDA's approval of these human clinical trials using gene-edited pig kidneys marks a turning point in the field of medicine. The goal is to move from emergency, one-off surgeries to rigorously controlled trials, with patients 50 or older, with end-stage kidney disease and dependent on dialysis, being eligible.
Other biotech companies are also joining the race. United Therapeutics is preparing its own trial, planning to begin this year with up to 50 patients.
The National Kidney Foundation's CEO, Kevin Longino, stated that advances in xenotransplantation are giving the kidney patient community hope. However, Dr. Leonardo Riella, a transplant nephrologist at Mass General, emphasised that for this technology to work, patients need to be well enough to handle it.
Bill Stewart, who visited his old dialysis clinic as proof of what's possible, not as a patient, received a genetically modified pig kidney transplant at MGH. The kidney he received was a specific version called EGEN-2784, developed by eGenesis.
eGenesis plans to treat 30 patients over the next two and a half years. As these groundbreaking transplants continue, they offer a glimmer of hope for the thousands waiting for a life-saving organ.
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