The Next Possible Step for Unlimited Organ Transplants

Transplants of animal organs into humans have never been approved for trials by the FDA. Live players in the biotech industry are currently trying to break this barrier.

Surgeons at NYU Langone Health in New York City perform a groundbreaking xenotransplant in 2021. Photo by Joe Carrotta for NYU Langone Health. Source.

In January 2022, a first-of-its-kind heart transplant was performed at the University of Maryland on 57-year-old David Bennett, a patient in late-stage heart failure. The heart he received was not from a human donor, but instead came from a pig which had been genetically engineered to reduce the risk of immune rejection. Although the initial results of the surgery were promising, Bennett died two months after the operation. His cause of death is still being determined, but is not thought to be due to organ rejection.¹ United Therapeutics, the biotech company behind the semi-successful transplant, believes that formal trials of pig organs in living human subjects could begin as early as 2024.²