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Research

Gene-Edited Pig Kidney Keeps Man Alive for Record Nine Months as Bridge to Human Transplant

Gene-edited pig kidney kept a man alive for a record nine months, serving as the first bridge to a human transplant.

AI News Feed · 2026-09-04 17:36

The patient, Tim Andrews of New Hampshire, developed kidney failure as a complication of type 2 diabetes. The report said his chance of receiving a human kidney within five years was 9 percent, and his risk of dying or being removed from the transplant waiting list during that time was more than 40 percent.

Surgeons at Mass General Brigham in Massachusetts transplanted a kidney from Wilma, a Yucatan miniature pig, into Andrews in January 2025. Wilma’s organ had received 69 genome edits, some intended to make the organ compatible with Andrews’ immune system and others to remove viruses that could pose a risk to humans. The pig kidney kept him off dialysis for 271 days.

After roughly six months, damage developed in the blood vessels of the pig kidney and progressed to organ failure. The kidney was removed at nine months. Andrews then spent several months back on dialysis before receiving a kidney from a deceased human donor, which was working well after six months of follow-up, according to The Lancet.

The case is the longest dialysis-free survival after pig-to-human kidney transplantation in a living patient and the first transition to a human kidney transplant, the research team said. No pig viruses or other pig pathogens were found, and no new antibodies against human tissue were detected, suggesting the pig kidney had not made the later transplant more difficult.

Andrews described the pig kidney transplant as a miracle. He said he was able to cook, vacuum and take long walks with his dog, Cupcake. “I was alive, and I hadn’t been in a long time,” he said.

Kidney transplantation is the best treatment for patients with end-stage kidney failure, but human organs are in short supply. Dr Leonardo Riella of Mass General Brigham’s Center for Transplantation Sciences called the organ shortage “the greatest crisis we have right now in transplantation.” Xenotransplantation, he said, could initially be used as a bridge while patients wait for a human donor kidney and, if long-term safety and durability are shown, as a destination therapy in its own right.

Before this case, the first pig kidney transplant into a living person, in 2024, ended after 52 days when the patient died from unrelated heart problems. No previous study had documented survival of a pig kidney xenograft beyond two months, according to The Lancet.

The team cautioned that this was a single patient with no comparison group and that the result reflected careful patient selection and intensive specialist care that may not be available elsewhere. Further clinical trials are needed, they said. “The patients are the true pioneers here,” Riella said. “By stepping forward and being willing to participate in these early stage studies, they are advancing the science.”