Pig Kidneys Yield ‘Life-Changing’ Independence From Dialysis
The Prototype By Alex Knapp, Senior Editor.
Sep 04, 2026, 02:45pm EDT
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A little over two years ago, biotech startup eGenesis hit a major milestone–one of its genetically engineered pig kidneys was transplanted into a living human for the first time.
This week, it announced more milestones. Not only have those kidneys found their way into five patients now, two of those patients have subsequently received human transplants. The results for one patient were published in the medical journal The Lancet. And now the company is about to embark on a clinical trial of more than 30 people in order to get a final approval from the FDA.
“This is hugely motivating for the field,” eGenesis CEO Mike Curtis told me.
Xenotransplantation–the use of animal organs instead of human ones–has generally been seen as a “bridge” by doctors, a way to keep patients alive until they can get a human organ transplant. This is particularly urgent for kidney patients, where there is an acute shortage of organ donations, who are otherwise treated by dialysis: where patients have their blood regularly cleaned by machine. That process creates other health complications and has a high mortality rate.
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Truly amazing. A family member was on dialysis for five years until he was finally “exhausted” and decided to stop and slide away across that “rainbow bridge”. I can’t imagine if this was available to him back then how things would have been different. At least, he’d have had a chance. Sigh!
There’s so much “we” don’t know and things like this demonstrate what is “possible”.
Hope these folks have more and better “discoveries”.
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Reinke Faces Life 