The pioneering recipient of a genetically modified kidney transplant from a pig has been discharged from the hospital.
The 62-year-old individual was released on Wednesday, marking two weeks since the groundbreaking surgery took place at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).
Previous attempts at organ transplants from genetically modified pigs have encountered failures.
However, the success of this procedure so far has been hailed by scientists as a historic milestone in the field of transplantation.
MGH, the largest teaching hospital affiliated with Harvard Medical School in Boston, USA, shared the news through a press release on Wednesday.
According to the release, the patient, Richard “Rick” Slayman from Weymouth, Massachusetts, had been facing end-stage kidney disease and urgently needed an organ transplant.
His doctors successfully transplanted a genetically-edited pig kidney into his body over a four-hour-long surgery on 16 March.
They said Mr Slayman’s kidney is now functioning well and he is no longer on dialysis.
In a statement, Mr Slayman said being able to leave the hospital and go home was “one of the happiest moments” of his life.
“I’m excited to resume spending time with my family, friends, and loved ones free from the burden of dialysis that has affected my quality of life for many years.”
In 2018, he underwent a kidney transplant from a deceased human donor. However, the transplanted kidney started to deteriorate last year, prompting doctors to explore the possibility of a kidney transplant from a pig.
“I saw it not only as a way to help me, but a way to provide hope for the thousands of people who need a transplant to survive,” he said.
The new pig kidney he received was modified by Cambridge-based pharmaceutical company eGenesis to remove “harmful pig genes and add certain human genes to improve its compatibility with humans,” it said.
For the procedure, the hospital said it drew from its history as being behind the world’s first successful human organ transplant – a kidney – in 1954, as well as research it had conducted with eGenesis on xenotransplantation (interspecies organ transplants) over the past five years.
The procedure was greenlit by the Food and Drug Administration, which offered a single Expanded Access Protocol – also known as compassionate use – that is used for patients with life-threatening illnesses to grant them access to experimental treatment.
The team behind the transplant hailed it as a historic step that can provide a potential solution to the world’s organ shortage, especially to those from ethnic minority communities whom the shortage disproportionately affects.
“An abundant supply of organs resulting from this technological advance may go far to finally achieve health equity and offer the best solution to kidney failure – a well-functioning kidney – to all patients in need,” said Winfred Williams, Mr Slayman’s doctor at MGH.
According to data from the US non-profit United Network for Organ Sharing, more than 100,000 Americans need a lifesaving organ transplant.
Meanwhile, the number of donors – deceased and living – in 2023 was just under 23,500.
It is estimated that 17 people die each day in the US while waiting for an organ, and kidneys are the most common organ needed for a transplant.
While this is the first pig kidney transplanted into a human, it is not the first pig organ to be used in a transplant procedure.
Two other patients had previously undergone pig heart transplants, but unfortunately, those procedures ended in failure as both recipients passed away a few weeks later.
In one instance, indications suggested that the patient’s immune system had rejected the organ, a common risk associated with transplant procedures.
STORY BY ; PORTIA AKU SHIKA GAFAH
