• Posted November 5, 2025

Could Pig Kidneys End the Transplant Shortage? First U.S. Trial Begins

A first-of-its-kind clinical trial is beginning in the United States to see if pig kidneys could help save the lives of people waiting for a human organ transplant.

United Therapeutics, the company that developed the genetically edited pig kidneys, said Monday that the first transplant in the trial has already taken place at NYU Langone Health.

The patient’s identity and surgery date were not released for privacy reasons.

NYU surgeon Dr. Robert Montgomery, who led the transplant team, said the hospital already has more patients waiting to join the study.

The trial will begin with six participants and could grow to as many as 50 people if early results are safe and promising.

More than 100,000 Americans are on the national transplant waitlist, most of them needing a kidney.

Thousands die each year because not enough donor organs are available. That’s why scientists are now exploring xenotransplantation — or transplanting animal organs into humans — as a possible solution.

Earlier “compassionate use” procedures showed mixed results. One woman lived 130 days with a pig kidney before needing dialysis again, and a man in New Hampshire lived 271 days before his pig kidney began to fail and was removed.

A few additional patients in the U.S. and China are living with pig kidneys as of today.

“This thing is moving in the right direction” Montgomery told The Associated Press, adding that because patients can return to dialysis if needed, the procedure has a built-in safety net.

The pig kidneys being tested in this study have 10 genetic edits. The edits remove pig genes that cause organ rejection and add human genes that may help the body accept the transplant.

Another company, eGenesis, is also starting a similar clinical trial soon.

More information

The United Network for Organ Sharing has more on xenotransplantation.

SOURCE: The Associated Press, Nov. 3, 2025