LOUISVILLE, Ky. — (AP) — The calls and emails started coming into NYU Langone Health and Massachusetts General Hospital soon after doctors began experimenting with pig organs in humans.
People worried they’ll never get a scarce human transplant asked: When could we get a pig kidney?
Alex Berrios of Louisville, Kentucky, needs a second transplant but finding another human match is proving impossible. So he’s closely watching for a chance at pig kidney research.
“It may not work, and I have to be OK with that,” Berrios said. “I think it’s worth the shot.”
Now two U.S. companies aim to begin the world’s first clinical trials of xenotransplantation in 2025 – using pig kidneys or hearts to try to save human lives. Would-be volunteers are impatient to see if they’ll qualify as researchers fine-tune how best to test if the humanized pig organs they’ve designed might really work.
Anticipation is growing with news that an Alabama …