By Nadia Kounang, NCS
(NCS) — One yr in the past, Tim Andrews was amongst the world’s first recipients of a genetically modified pig kidney. Now, he’s the first in that small group of pioneers to go on to obtain a human kidney.
“I’m the first one that went across the bridge. … I’m the only person in the world that’s ever had a pig kidney and then had a human kidney after it,” he instructed NCS from the hospital on Thursday. “Nobody’s ever been across that bridge. That is cool!”
Andrews, who has diabetes and was residing with end-stage kidney illness, received a pig kidney on January 25, 2025, and lived with it for a document 271 days. After his physique rejected the organ, it was removed in October, and Andrews returned to dialysis — a grueling course of that saved him alive however made him so depressing it had pushed him to the experimental xenotransplant in the first place.
“I cried,” mentioned Andrews, 67. He instructed his household he didn’t count on to make it by the yr.
But at almost midnight on January 12, Mass General Brigham known as to inform him that a human kidney — a near-perfect match — had been recognized. He was scheduled for transplant surgical procedure at 8 a.m. the following day.
Andrews now expects to be discharged to his residence in New Hampshire on Friday, simply days after the milestone organ transplant that made him a residing instance of the promise of xenotransplantation: Organs from animals could assist preserve people alive and wholesome sufficient for a longer-term answer and a new shot at life.
An reply to organ shortages
Xenotransplantation – the transplant of various species’ organs – has been touted as a doable answer to the present scarcity of organ donors. The transplanted pig organs are genetically modified to regulate for rejection and measurement.
At any given time in the US, there are greater than 100,000 individuals ready for an organ, about 80% of them in want of kidneys. But solely the sickest of the sick are listed; simply 1 in 8 sufferers with end-stage renal illness are on the waitlist.
Of the more than 800,000 people with kidney failure, almost 70% are on dialysis. But dialysis is attempting to compress into simply a few hours each week the work that the physique sometimes does 24/7. The five-year survival fee for sufferers on dialysis hovers round 40%.
“Dialysis is not able to reproduce what the body needs in terms of clearing the waste,” mentioned Dr. Leonardo Riella, medical director of kidney transplantation at Mass General Brigham hospital and Andrews’ physician. “It has a huge burden on the patient, both in their quality of life but most importantly on their health.”
Andrews was hooked as much as a dialysis machine three days a week for as much as six hours at a time. Six months after beginning dialysis the first time, he had a coronary heart assault. “It takes a toll on you emotionally and physically; you just get exhausted and I got sick. I was throwing up all the time,” he mentioned.
While organs stay briefly provide, Riella sees xenotransplantation as a answer.
“Even if it is a bridge,” Riella mentioned, “it would be better than [Tim] just staying on dialysis.”
To put together Andrews for the human transplant, the staff at Mass General examined Andrews for brand new antibodies that would doubtlessly react with the new human kidney and located none. His most up-to-date transplant took nearly three hours, and he mentioned his new immunosuppressant routine is about a third of what he took when he had a pig kidney.
‘This will do something for humanity’
For Andrews, getting the xenotransplant wasn’t simply a matter of hope away from dialysis however hope for sufferers with finish stage renal illness.
“This will do something for humanity,” he instructed NCS Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta in the documentary “Dr. Sanjay Gupta Reports: Animal Pharm.”
Immediately following his xenotransplant final yr, Andrews felt completely different. “I was clear. I was not what I call dialysis foggy. I wasn’t tired or anything. All of a sudden I had energy,” he remembered.
But the path ahead had ups and downs. Andrews took 52 tablets a day to assist preserve his pig kidney, which he named Wilma, and immune system in settlement. Ultimately, over the course of 9 months, the kidney started displaying indicators of rejection. He had two infections. Riella mentioned they adjusted Andrews’ immunosuppressant protocol, however the kidneys had turn into broken in the course of.
“There was some damage to the filters of the kidney that unfortunately, were not reversible,” Riella mentioned. Ultimately, they eliminated Wilma, and Andrews needed to return to dialysis.
Mike Curtis, president and CEO of eGenesis, the firm that offered the donor pig for Andrews’ kidney, mentioned it was a sluggish rejection that scientists may see coming for months.
“We just could not figure out how to how to push it back,” Curtis mentioned.
But biopsies and analysis into Andrews and the pig kidney could have helped them pinpoint what led to the rejection, which can assist future kidney recipients.
“We have a much better idea of what was causing that low level rejection, so we can then tune the suppression,” Curtis mentioned.
Andrews’ expertise has helped refine remedy for the subsequent xenotransplant sufferers. Since his surgical procedure in January 2025, Mass General and eGenesis have teamed as much as carry out two extra xenotransplants earlier than beginning a scientific trial in the close to future.
An different to dialysis
But Riella additionally sees the xenotransplant as a success for Andrews. Wilma was in a position to preserve him off dialysis for 9 months. After Andrews returned to dialysis, his general operate dropped once more, and he was dropping muscle mass and power.
At this level, Riella mentioned, the comparability of xenotransplant is probably not to a human kidney however to dialysis. “It’s a much better treatment to maintain the kidney function compared to what dialysis is able to offer,” he mentioned. “Our goal is to basically ban dialysis as a long-term treatment.”
But an alternative choice to dialysis isn’t the finish objective, mentioned Dr. Robert Montgomery, director of the NYU Langone Transplant Institute. Montgomery wasn’t concerned in Andrews’ care however has additionally been at the entrance of the xenotransplant subject.
“As this gets better and xenografts last longer, it will be a destination,” mentioned Montgomery, who was the first physician to transplant pig organs into brain- useless sufferers and is main the first FDA-cleared clinical trial into xenotransplant at NYU.
Montgomery believes that xenotransplant might be a viable answer for sufferers inside the subsequent 5 years. “In the future I think a single patient with renal failure will cycle through both xenografts and allografts throughout their lifetimes.”
Riella says it’s unimaginable to know would have occurred to Andrews if he had not tried an experimental xenotransplant. But Andrews mentioned he has little question that Wilma was key to getting him so far.
“If I didn’t take Wilma, I’d have been dead by now. I wasn’t gonna make it another year,” Andrews mentioned. “I’m looking at years now. I can think ahead.”
What he’s pondering of now is sharing his personal story and urging others to turn into organ donors.
“People need to step up and help,” Andrews mentioned.
In a message Andrews posted to social media on Friday, he thanked the household of his donor, who has not been recognized.
“I grieve with you. It’s got to tear you apart, but I’m here to tell you, the donation of a kidney has saved my life, and you have given hope to millions. Your family member is a hero. He’s a hero, not just to me, but to the entire world,” Andrews mentioned.
“I’ll never be able to repay you, but I promise you it’ll be in my heart. And it will be cared and loved for for as long as I live, and I will spend my life basically preaching, and I’m not a preacher, about what this love did.”
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