"Based on lessons from the New Hampshire men and a handful of other one-off attempts, the Food and Drug Administration approved pig producer eGenesis to begin a rigorous study of kidney xenotransplants. "Right now we have a bottleneck" in finding enough human organs, said Mass General kidney specialist Dr. Leonardo Riella, who will help lead the new clinical trial. More than 100,000 people are on the U.S. transplant list, most who need a kidney, and thousands die waiting."
"Initial experiments, two hearts and two kidneys, were short-lived and included very ill patients. Chinese researchers also recently announced a kidney xenotransplant but released little information. Then an Alabama woman whose pig kidney lasted 130 days before rejection prompted its removal, sending her back to dialysis, helped researchers shift to not-as-sick patients. In New Hampshire, high blood pressure caused Stewart's kidneys to fail but he had no other health problems."
Mass General Hospital performed an experimental pig kidney transplant on a 54-year-old man on June 14, and the patient is faring well. A prior pig kidney transplant at the same center kept another New Hampshire man off dialysis for a record seven months. The previous longest known survival for a gene-edited pig organ transplant was 130 days before rejection. The Food and Drug Administration approved pig producer eGenesis to begin a study of kidney xenotransplants. More than 100,000 people are on the U.S. transplant list, most needing kidneys, and thousands die waiting. Scientists are genetically altering pigs to make organs more humanlike and less likely to be attacked by human immune systems.
Read at ABC7 Los Angeles
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