The FDA has given approval for the first clinical trials of pig kidney transplants in humans, representing a significant advancement in addressing the organ shortage crisis.

It was the fourth pig kidney transplant in the United States, and the first of three that will be done at Mass General as part of a new clinical trial sanctioned by the Food and Drug Administration. Two of the previous patients died shortly after the procedure, including one who was critically ill before the transplant.

The transplant, part of a three-person compassionate use study, used a pig kidney with 69 gene edits provided by U

A team at Massachusetts General Hospital led by Harvard Medical School physician-scientists has for the second time successfully transplanted a genetically edited pig kidney into a living person. The team performed the first surgery of its kind in the world in March 2024.

A New Hampshire man fought for the chance at a pig kidney transplant, spending months getting into good enough shape to be part of a small pilot study of a highly experimental treatment.

A 66-year-old man, Tim Andrews, has successfully undergone a pig kidney transplant, becoming the second person to do so.

Massachusetts General Hospital announced Friday that Tim Andrews recovered well enough after the Jan. 25 transplant to leave the hospital a week later. Andrews calls himself “a new man,” free from two years of dialysis.