Richard “Rick” Suleiman, who made history at the age of 62 as the first person to receive a kidney transplant from a genetically modified pig, has died about two months after the surgery.
Massachusetts General Hospital, where Suleiman underwent surgery, said in a statement Saturday that its transplant team was “deeply saddened” by his death. The hospital said there was “no indication that it was the result of a recent transplant.”
Mr. Suleiman, who is black, had end-stage kidney disease, a disease that affects more than 800,000 people in the United States and is disproportionately prevalent among black people, according to the federal government.
There are too few kidneys available to donate. Nearly 90,000 people are on the nationwide waiting list for kidney tests.
Suleiman, a supervisor at the state Department of Transportation in Weymouth, Massachusetts, received a human kidney transplant in 2018. When his kidneys stopped working in 2023 and he developed congestive heart failure, doctors suggested trying a kidney from a modified pig.
“I thought it was a way not only to help me, but to give hope to the thousands of people who need transplants to survive,” he said in a hospital news release in March. mentioned in.
His four-hour surgery was a medical breakthrough. For decades, proponents of so-called xenotransplantation have proposed replacing diseased human organs with animal organs. The main problem with this approach is that the human immune system rejects animal tissue as foreign, often leading to severe complications.
Recent advances in genetic engineering have allowed researchers to tweak the genes in an animal's organs to make them more compatible with the recipient.
The pig kidney transplanted into Suleiman was designed by EGenesis, a biotechnology company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The company's scientists removed three genes and added seven others to increase compatibility. The company also inactivated a retrovirus carried by pigs that could be harmful to humans.
“Mr. Suleiman was a true pioneer,” said eGenesis. statement on social media on Saturday. “His courage helped pave the way forward for current and future patients suffering from kidney failure.”
Mr Suleiman was discharged from hospital two weeks after the surgery and was “in the best health I've ever been in,” he said at the time.
In a statement released by the hospital, Suleiman's family said he was kind and resourceful, and was “fiercely devoted to his family, friends and colleagues.” They said he was very relieved to know that his case affected so many people.
“Millions of people around the world have come to know Rick's story,” they said in a statement. “We feel comforted by the optimism he provided and continues to provide to patients desperately awaiting transplants.”