BLACKSBURG, Va. – A New River Valley company was part of a groundbreaking surgery that helped save a man’s life using a pig heart.
Revivcor, a regenerative medicine company based in Blacksburg, provided a genetically altered pig heart that was successfully transplanted to a human.
This is the first surgery of its kind. The operation took place in Baltimore, Maryland on Jan. 7 at the University of Maryland Medical Center.
“Right here in Blacksburg, we cloned the first pigs in the world in 2000. We cloned the first Alpha-Gal knockout pigs in 2003 and we have been building and improving those genetics and developing this technology since then. Leading up to this exciting transplant,” said David Ayares, the executive vice president and chief scientific officer at Revivicor.
Ayares said this surgery had been twenty years in the making. This transplant was made possible by doing multiple genetic mortifications to the pig.
“We deleted three pig genes that are associated with immune rejection. We also added six human genes and finally we inactivated or knocked out a pig gene that keeps these organs human size,” said Ayares.
The patient who received the pig heart is 57-year-old David Bennett Sr. He was bedridden and would have died without a new heart. His family said he had no other options.
“It came as a surprise it was a last option, it wasn’t presented until basically the week before Christmas,” said Bennett’s son.
To make this surgery possible, the FDA had to work quickly. Through emergency use authorization they approved the operation on New Year’s Eve.
“The FDA was so responsive and collaborative. It has been a great opportunity,” said Ayares.
Bennett’s son is amazed by the technology and how far medicine has come to make something like this possible.
“I can’t say anything but thank you, and I know that is not enough, but that is what I can say at this point. Thank you for the tireless effort and resources that you put into making this possible,” said Bennett.
This groundbreaking procedure could offer hope to hundreds of thousands of patients with failing organs.
“We are trying to solve an incredible medical need. There are just not enough organs in the United States for donation and the world around. So this is going to change the paradigm for organ transplantation,” said Ayares.
As of now, Bennett is doing well. He is still in critical condition but is becoming more stable each day.
As for what is next for Revivicor, they are working on building a clean pig facility in the New River Valley that will help supply organs for future donations. They are also doing non-human primate studies in baboons in 2022 and moving forward to clinical trials in 2023.