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On May 11, local time, Massachusetts General Hospital announced that Richard Slayman, the first human pig kidney transplant patient, died less than two months after surgery at the age of 62. In March of this year, Rick Sleman underwent the world's first genetically modified pig kidney transplant, which lasted up to four hours. By early April, Sleman was discharged from the hospital in good condition, widely regarded as a milestone in the medical field, but the end result is still regrettable.
The hospital was deeply saddened by the sudden death of Richard Sleman, who issued a statement. However, the statement noted that there was no indication that the transplant was the cause of death, and the exact cause of death had not been disclosed. Previously, surgeons at Massachusetts General Hospital had said they believed pig kidneys could work in their bodies for at least two years.
Notably, David Bennett, the first patient to undergo a xenotransplant heart transplant, died on March 8, 2022, exactly two months after he underwent surgery. Bennett was infected with a virus from pigs that caused heart damage.
In response to this news, Zhu Tongyu, an organ transplant expert and vice president of Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University, said that the cause of death of patients can only be known through specific pathological analysis, but the previous two patients who received pig heart transplantation did not live for two months after transplantation, which shows that xenotransplantation still faces many challenges before it really enters clinical application.
Zhu Tongyu believes that the important issues that need to be solved in xenotransplantation include: exploring better immune tolerance induction strategies, focusing on endogenous virus activation, etc. For immune rejection, it now appears that the problem of hyperacute (within 24 hours) rejection has been resolved, but the problem of acute rejection remains.
Looking back at the development of the xenograft industry:
-- The distribution of xenotransplantation countries
According to Hu Xiaowei, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Switzerland, the current source of xenotransplanted organs is mainly pigs, but there are also a few other species, such as Nile tilapia. In addition, xenotransplantation involves transplanted organs, including the pancreas, skin, cornea, choroid plexus cells, kidney, and heart. From the perspective of the distribution of xenotransplantation countries, the United States, China, New Zealand, Argentina, and Brazil are the countries where xenotransplantation is carried out.
-- The size of the global xenograft market
Currently, the global xenograft market is booming. According to data from OrianResearch, the global xenograft market has been increasing year by year in recent years, from $2.9 billion in 2018 to $4.8 billion in 2020. In 2021, the global xenograft market size was $6.4 billion.
-- Organ transplants are in short supply
Due to the large population of the mainland and the huge number of patients with organ failure, only more than 20,000 of the 300,000 patients who need transplantation due to end-stage organ failure every year have the opportunity to receive organ transplantation, with a ratio of 1:15 between supply and demand.
——Industry development trends
On April 6, 2022, the China Organ Transplantation Development Foundation released the "Expert Consensus on Clinical Trials of Human Xenotransplantation in Chinese", pointing out that xenotransplantation is an important part of the organ transplantation discipline, and its scientific research results can promote the development of organ transplantation medicine. At the same time, it should also be recognized that xenotransplantation clinical trials still face challenges such as immune rejection, biosafety, cross-germline adaptation, and bioethics. At present, the mainland xenograft industry will continue to accelerate the progress of scientific research and innovation, and increase innovation. In addition, we will make every effort to overcome challenges such as immune rejection, biosecurity, cross-germline adaptation, and bioethics.
According to the report of the Prospective Industry Research Institute, the xenograft market is developing rapidly worldwide, with a CAGR of 7.13% from 2022 to 2029, according to the forecast of OrianResearch; The global xenograft market size is valued at $26 billion in 2032.
Pan Dengke, founder and chairman of Zhongke Auge Biotechnology Co., Ltd., predicts that in the mainland, in the next two to three years, it may be faster to carry out xenotransplantation for critically ill patients who cannot wait for organ transplantation. At first, it will not be applied on a large scale, and only patients who strictly meet the requirements can become the first batch of patients to benefit from gene-edited pig organs.
Prospective Economist APP Information Group
For more research and analysis of this industry, please refer to the "Market Prospect and Investment Strategic Planning Analysis Report of China's Laboratory Animal Industry" by Qianzhan Industry Research Institute.
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