Over 100,000 individuals living in the U.S. are on a waiting list for an organ transplant. An average of 17 people die each day while waiting for a donor organ. Doctors report that kidneys head the list of organs most needed for transplants. End-stage kidney disease numbers are forecast to rise by approximately 68% by the year 2030 in the U.S.
A first time ever event has occurred recently whereby doctors have transplanted a pig kidney that was genetically edited into a male with end-stage kidney disease. Pig kidneys that have been modified to lower the risk of being rejected, have proven to be successfully transplanted into monkeys and into brain dead bodies of human donors.
The First Living Patient
Sixty-two-year-old Rick Slayman has become the first living patient to take part in a gene-edited pig kidney transplant last week. The four-hour operation took place at the General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.
Rick, age 62 from Weymouth, Massachusetts, has been in recovery and should be discharged shortly according to his doctors. Rick felt that it would not only help him, but if successful, it would provide some hope for thousands of patients who are waiting for a transplant.
Dr. Winfred Williams, Rick’s principal kidney doctor, commended Rick for being courageous and participating in this new field of transplantation. The New York Times noted that Black patients generally have higher rates of end-stage kidney disease. Rick said that he is proud of his role in advancing this technology.
About eGenesis
A Cambridge, Mass. Company named eGenesis supplied the pig kidney used in Rick’s transplant. eGenesis has been experimenting with genetic alterations for years to ready pig organs for transplantation into the human body.
At Massachusetts General alone, there are 1,400 patients on the waiting list for a kidney transplant. Some of these patients will die or eventually be too ill to undergo a transplant. There is also a long waiting list for dialysis.
Therefore, the need to address the shortage of human donor organs is quite urgent.
Two years ago, eGenesis reported a study in the journal Nature describing the thus-far successful transplant of pig kidneys into a monkey. Last week’s transplant was performed under the compassionate use wavier that was granted by the US FDA in February 2024.
The expanded access or compassionate use waiver is a way for a patient with a life-threatening condition to have access to a medical product for treatment outside clinical trials if there are no satisfactory alternative therapy options available to the patient. According to researchers, to prepare for the transplant, Rick’s intended kidney received 69 edits removing harmful pig genes and adding human genes. The scientists also disabled retroviruses in the donor pig thus eliminating the risk of infections.
The History
Rick had been living with type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure for years when he was fortunate to receive his first kidney transplant from a human donor in 2018. However, the donated organ began to lose its effectiveness five years later, at which time Rick had to resume dialysis. The dialysis caused various complications, forcing Rick to return to the hospital on a steady basis since resuming treatment. To avoid rejection of the new kidney, Rick was given an infusion of two immunosuppressant drugs. Eldon Pharmaceuticals Inc. provided the drug tegoprubart while Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. provided ravulizumab.
Dr. Leonardo Riella, the hospital director of kidney transplantation, said that he is firmly convinced that xenotransplantation is a promising solution to the urgent need for organ transplants.
