David Bennett Jr., who received the heart of a genetically modified pig, died, the hospital says

Bartley P. Griffith Jr., a surgeon who performed a heart transplant, said Bennett “proved to be a brave and noble patient who fought to the end.” “Mr. Bennett has become known to millions of people around the world for his courage and firm will to live.”

Bennett’s death is an accelerated field of xenotransplantation, a recession in the process of transplanting organs from one species to another. Recent advances such as Bennett’s surgery at NYU Langone Health and the University of Alabama at Birmingham and kidney transplants for brain-dead humans are made possible by new technologies.They include gene editing tools recognized by CRISPR, 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.. Organs are modified to be less extrinsic to human recipients, reducing their chances of being rejected.

Doctors hope that the use of genetically modified animal organs can address the shortage of organs available for transplantation.

The need is miserable. Over 100,000 patients are on the national transplant waiting list. 17 of them the Waiting for donor organs every day.

Bennett, who suffered from heart failure and arrhythmia, was considered ineligible for a traditional human heart transplant. The hospital said it agreed with the procedure with “unknown risks and benefits”. The Food and Drug Administration granted an emergency permit for surgery on 31 December. It was done a week later.

Xenotransplantation, which breeds GM pigs and provides organs that are unlikely to be rejected by humans, raises concerns among animal rights organizers and is closely monitored by ethicists.

Some scientists, especially in the field of public health, believe that huge investments in xenografts are irrelevant. Instead, they say that money should be spent on the prevention and treatment of chronic conditions and behaviors that require organ replacement, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, and smoking.

Bennett’s surgery was controversial for another reason.

Post reported that Bennett was convicted of seven stabs in a man in 1988 and paralyzed him shortly after the surgery. The jury acquitted Bennett for murder, but was found guilty of having a battery and hidden weapons. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison and served six people.

The victim, Edward Schumacher, spent 19 years in a wheelchair, suffered a stroke in 2005, and died two years later at the age of 40. In January, officials at the University of Maryland Medical Center declined to say whether they knew about Bennett’s criminal record.

The hospital said Wednesday that Bennett’s heart transplant was initially successful and there were no signs of refusal. He received physiotherapy and saw the Super Bowl.At that time, the hospital was released video Bennett, who looks frail in a hospital bed, sings the words “America the Beautiful” with the therapist.

The safety and efficacy of the procedure must be tested in clinical trials before the modified pig organs are widely available to people through xenotransplantation.

With the exception of Bennett’s surgery, which the FDA has given urgent permission through compassionate use rules, recent kidney transplants have been preclinical studies in brain-dead humans.

James Locke, director of an incompatible kidney transplant program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, hopes to enter Phase 1 clinical trials, usually the first phase to test people’s safety, this year. Said. She and her team published a kidney transplant in September in the American Journal of Transplantation, providing fellow scientists and ethicists with important information for advancing the field.

A spokesperson for the University of Maryland Medical Center said Wednesday that Bennett’s medical team is investigating the cause of his death and will submit the results to a peer-reviewed journal. In addition, we plan to conduct clinical trials in the future under the guidance of the FDA.

Muhammad M. Mohiudin, a professor of surgery at the university and science director of the Cardiac Xenograft Program, said: Of the Maryland School of Medicine. “We remain optimistic and will continue to work in future clinical trials.”