First person with kidney transplant from GM pig dies two months on
The first person to receive a kidney transplant from a genetically modified pig has died nearly two months after the operation.
Richard Slayman, 62, who had late-stage kidney disease, received the organ during a four-hour operation at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston on March 16. At the time surgeons said they believed the pig kidney would last for at least two years.
No cause of death has yet been given for Slayman, who had type 2 diabetes and hypertension for a decade. His family thanked his doctors. “Their enormous efforts leading the xenotransplant gave our family seven more weeks with Rick, and our memories made during that time will remain in our minds and hearts,” they said.
Richard Slayman had received a transplanted human kidney in 2018, but it began to fail five years later
They said he had the surgery in part to provide hope for people who needed a transplant. “Rick accomplished that goal and his hope and optimism will endure for ever,” they said.
He had issued a statement after his surgery saying he wanted it to be “a way to provide hope for the thousands of people who need a transplant to survive”.
About a month after Slayman’s operation, surgeons at NYU Langone Health in New York carried out a similar transplant on Lisa Pisano, who had heart failure and end-stage kidney disease.
The xenotransplantation procedure — transplanting a non-human organ into a human — was hailed as a “groundbreaking miracle”.
About 89,000 people are on the United States national waiting list for a kidney transplant and 17 people die each day on average while waiting for an organ. Massachusetts General Hospital said in March that there were more than 1,400 patients on its waiting list for a kidney transplant.
The pig kidney was provided by eGenesis, a Massachusetts biotech company, and had been modified to remove harmful pig genes and add certain human genes.
Slayman had received a transplanted human kidney in 2018, but it began to fail five years later.
“Mass General is deeply saddened at the sudden passing of Mr Rick Slayman,” the transplant team said. “He will forever be seen as a beacon of hope to countless transplant patients worldwide and we are deeply grateful for his trust and willingness to advance the field of xenotransplantation. We have no indication that it was the result of his recent transplant.”