A 62-year-old man who received a kidney transplant from a genetically modified pig has died.
Richard Slayman passed away 7 weeks after he became the first person to receive a kidney from a pig.
Slayman died at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, where he received the transplant, his family announced on Saturday.
The hospital also issued a statement on Saturday, saying it was “deeply saddened at the sudden passing” of Slayman. The hospital suggests his body did not reject the pig’s kidney. And doctors had “no indication” that Slayman’s death “was the result of his recent transplant.”
Slayman made history on March 16 as the first human to receive a kidney transplant from a pig. He battled kidney disease for more than a decade.
His body rejected a human kidney transplant in 2018. He was on kidney dialysis for years when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the pig transplant under its “compassionate use” rule.
Compassionate use approval is granted in cases where patients have a “serious or immediately life-threatening disease or condition” and there are no alternative treatments, according to the FDA.
Researchers modified the pig’s genes making 69 edits to its genetic code. Modifying the pig’s cells decreased the risk of Slayman’s immune system rejecting the kidney transplant.
“Their enormous efforts leading the xenotransplant gave our family seven more weeks with Rick, and our memories made during that time will remain in our minds and hearts,” the family statement said.
