American Company Is Ready To Start Transplanting Pig Organs To Humans

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Video: American Company Is Ready To Start Transplanting Pig Organs To Humans

Video: American Company Is Ready To Start Transplanting Pig Organs To Humans
Video: New test brings pig-to-human organ transplants closer 2024, March
American Company Is Ready To Start Transplanting Pig Organs To Humans
American Company Is Ready To Start Transplanting Pig Organs To Humans
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Already from 2021 or 2022, Americans will be able to receive internal organs of a pig for transplantation, first the kidneys, and later the heart. He makes sure that these organs are perfect for a person due to genetic modifications that exclude rejection

American company is ready to start transplanting pig organs to humans - pig, transplant, organ transplant, GMO, genetics
American company is ready to start transplanting pig organs to humans - pig, transplant, organ transplant, GMO, genetics

Maryland-based biotechnology company United Therapeutics plans to begin organ transplants from genetically modified pigs to humans. This is reported by the Future Human edition.

According to David Ayares, chief scientist at Revivicor, a subsidiary of United Therapeutics, they plan to start transplanting GMO organs in humans as early as 2021 or 2022 and that they already have a pig with similar organs.

Transplanting pig viscera to humans can solve the problem of long transplant queues. Every day, 17 Americans who are awaiting a vital organ transplant die without waiting for a vital organ transplant, according to the US Department of Resources and Health Services.

The biggest problem with animal organ transplantation to humans is that it can trigger severe immune responses. In other words, the human body rejects foreign tissue.

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Revivicor has found a solution to the problem by making genetic changes in pigs to stop this reaction. Back in 2003, Revivicor scientists learned to disable a special gene in pigs that produces the alpha-gal disaccharide, which causes rejection.

True, this was still not enough for the pork organ to take root well in the human body, so the work continued. In 2020, they obtained a new GMO pig, which already had 10 genetic modifications, of which 4 were switched off pig genes and 6 added human genes.

Now at Revivicor they considered that the organs of such pigs are completely ready for transplantation to humans. It is assumed that first they will start with a kidney transplant, and then they will reach the heart.

United Therapeutics is currently conducting clinical trials to obtain approval for organ transplantation from the FDA - the US Food and Drug Administration.

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