Overview
- A 66-year-old man received a genetically engineered pig kidney on January 25, 2025, and the graft supported him without dialysis for 271 days before being removed and replaced by a deceased-donor human kidney in January 2026.
- The pig kidney worked immediately and an early T-cell rejection was treated successfully, but reduced immunosuppression during a non-zoonotic bacterial infection led months later to microvascular inflammation, endothelial injury and thrombotic microangiopathy that caused graft failure.
- Extensive monitoring found no evidence of porcine viruses or other pig pathogens in the patient at any point, and the subsequent human transplant showed immediate function with no sign that the xenograft had sensitized the recipient.
- The procedure was done under an FDA Expanded Access investigational application using an eGenesis donor organ, and the published report discloses funding and multiple author ties to eGenesis and other companies that bear on translation and commercialization.
- Researchers say the case is proof of concept that pig kidneys can serve as a temporary bridge to allotransplantation but that larger trials, better donor engineering, clearer immunosuppression protocols and formal regulatory and ethical frameworks are needed before wider use.