According to reports, a man named Tim Andrews from New Hampshire, United States, is resuming dialysis after living with a gene-edited pig kidney for a record of 271 days. His doctors revealed this on Monday.
This surpassed the previous record of 130 days set by an Alabama woman named Towana Looney, making him become the longest-surviving recipient of a genetically modified pig kidney. His experience is helping researchers in their quest for animal-to-human transplants.
Andrews, who had been on dialysis for two years, received the transplant in January 2025 at Mass General Brigham. Unfortunately, the 67 year old had the organ removed on October 23 because its function was declining. In a statement made by his transplant team at Mass General Brigham, they hailed Andrews as a selfless medical pioneer and an inspiration to patients with kidney failure.
Andrew’s experience illustrated a significant milestone in xenotransplantation research, which uses animal organs for human transplants to address the severe shortage of human donor organs.
Based on statistics, more than 100,000 people, most needing kidneys, are on the United States transplant list, and thousands die waiting. Andrews knew his blood type was literally hard to match and decided to seek an alternative, getting into shape to qualify for Mass General’s xenotransplant pilot study.
Following successful pilot studies, two prominent companies approved by the FDA, eGenesis and United Therapeutics, are moving to more rigorous clinical trials for genetically engineered pig kidney transplants.
