First patient to get pig kidney transplant dies

WASHINGTON: The first patient to receive a genetically modified pig kidney transplant died, two months after the procedure, the US hospital that carried it out said.

“Mass General is deeply saddened at the sudden passing of Mr Rick Slayman. We have no indication that it was the result of his recent transplant,” the Boston hospital said.

In a world first, surgeons at Massachusetts General Hospital in March transplanted the genetically edited pig kidney into Slayman, who was 62 years old at the time and suffering from end-stage kidney disease. The pig kidney provided by a biotech company, eGenesis, had been modified to remove harmful pig genes and add certain human genes, according to the hospital.