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Agence France-Presse

On a farm in the southern US state of Virginia, David Ayares and his research teams are breeding genetically modified pigs to transplant their organs into human patients.
Revivicor, the biotech company Ayares leads, is at the forefront of xenotransplantation research – the implantation of animal organs into humans – which aims to solve the country’s chronic organ shortage.
Revivicor bred a pig whose kidney was recently transplanted into Towana Looney, according to an announcement on December 17 by a New York hospital.
“It’s just an exciting time,” Ayares said during a recent tour of the research farm.

Looney donated a kidney to her mother in 1999, only for the remaining one to fail several years later after pregnancy complications.
The 53-year-old from Alabama is the latest recipient of a gene-edited pig kidney – and the only living person with an animal organ transplant.
“It’s a blessing,” she said three weeks after the procedure at NYU Langone.
Looney had been using dialysis since December 2016. Finding a suitable match was impossible due to her unusually high levels of antibodies, which made rejection highly likely. Her body gradually lost accessible blood vessels to support dialysis, leaving her increasingly frail.
In the US alone, more than 100,000 people are on the transplant list and thousands die every year while waiting, most often for a kidney.

For more than 20 years, Revivicor has been conducting research into pig-to-human transplantation in Blacksburg, Virginia.
The pigs are genetically modified to make their organs less likely to be rejected by patients.
“These are not typical farm pigs,” said Ayares. “Millions of dollars have gone into the production of these genetics, so they’re very high-value animals.”

In a laboratory several kilometres away from the research farm, Todd Vaught, head of cell biology at Revivicor, has his eyes glued to a microscope.
With a pipette, he pierces a pig egg to remove its DNA and replace it with cells that have “all the instructions needed to make a genetically modified pig”.
A few hours later, the edited eggs are implanted into sows. Four months later new litters are born.

French sociologist Catherine Rene criticises what she characterises as mistreatment of the pigs as merely vessels for organs destined for humans.
“Ultimately, there is very little room for recognition of the donor animal, of the gift that is made,” Rene says.
Ayares disagrees.
“Hundreds of millions of pigs are used every year as food,” he says. “I would argue that this is a much higher calling for that pig organ to be used for transplantation.”
While xenotransplantation research is happening in various parts of the world, the United States is a clear leader in the field.
Since 2021, US surgeons have transplanted several genetically modified pig kidneys and hearts into humans, most of them supplied by Revivicor. Another key provider is the biotech firm eGenesis.
The first trials were carried out on brain-dead people, before the procedure was attempted on seriously ill patients.
Although those patients died within weeks of the operation, the organs they received were not immediately rejected by their immune systems, which scientists hailed as a promising sign.

The first line of pigs developed by Revivicor carried only one genome edit, meant to deactivate the animal’s production of a substance that causes people to reject the transplanted organ.
The second has 10 modified genes, six of which come from human DNA to improve biological compatibility.
It is with this second line of pigs that United Therapeutics (UT), Revivicor’s parent company, is thinking big.
Towana’s case is a precursor to potential clinical trials, under the [Food and Drug Administration’s] guidance, to determine if these organs are safe as a new, sustainable source
Robert Montgomery, the surgeon who carried out the kidney transplant
In March, the publicly traded company opened another medical facility near Blacksburg where, in a new operating room, pigs’ kidneys will be removed and prepared for transfer to the receiving patient. The rest of the pig will be discarded.
Spokesman Dewey Steadman said the facility has “rigorous controls” in place to prevent any infection of the 200 animals kept there.
The company’s goal is to begin several years of clinical studies on patients in 2025 and, if the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gives the green light, to begin full-scale production of genetically modified pigs in 2029.
UT is already planning to invest billions of dollars into building more and bigger facilities.
The company is considering selling kidneys for around US$1 million each, which is close to the cost of 10 years of dialysis for patients in the United States, according to Steadman.

Making pig kidneys available to a large number of patients will not be easy in the US, which lacks universal healthcare. But Ayares hopes that with health insurance, “the patient is not bearing a million dollars … price tag”.
Robert Montgomery, who led the seven-hour operation on Looney on November 25, said: “Towana’s case is a precursor to potential clinical trials, under the [Food and Drug Administration’s] guidance, to determine if these organs are safe as a new, sustainable source for those who need them.”
The operation was the seventh human xenotransplantation performed by Montgomery, who also carried out the world’s first gene-edited pig-to-human organ transplant, on a brain-dead patient in September 2021.
Looney was discharged on December 6 to a flat in New York, although NYU Langone said that given her antibodies “she may periodically undergo inpatient administration of medicine while her immune system adapts to her new organ”.
She is expected to return home in three months.


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A technician pets a genetically altered pig at Revivicor Research farm in Blacksburg, in the US state of Virginia where researchers breed the animals to transplant their organs into human patients. Photo: AFP

Organ recipient Towana Looney (left) talks to a nurse at NYU Langone Health on December 11, 2024. Photo: AFP

Dave Ayares, president and chief scientific officer of Revivicor, holds a young genetically altered pig at Revivicor’s research farm in Blacksburg, Virginia. Photo: AFP

Looney, 53, recently received a gene-edited pig kidney and is the only living person with a transplanted animal organ. Photo: AFP

Senior research scientist Lori Sorrells sorts through oocytes (ovarian cells) as she prepares them for genetic modification at the Revivicor Laboratories in Blacksburg, Virginia. Photo: AFP

Looney undergoes medical testing with Dr Jeffrey Stern at NYU Langone Health in New York, on December 11, 2024. Photo: AFP

Genetically altered pigs at the Revivicor Research farm in Blacksburg, Virginia. Photo: AFP

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The US’ long waiting list for transplants could be shortened with the use of genetically modified animal organs. This farm is key to process


The US’ long waiting list for transplants could be shortened with the use of genetically modified animal organs. This farm is key to process.


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