New Delhi, Sept. 5 -- A genetically modified pig kidney kept a 66-year-old US man with end-stage kidney disease off dialysis for nine months before he received a human donor kidney, in what researchers describe as a world first.

Tim Andrews, from New Hampshire, had kidney failure caused by type 2 diabetes. His chances of receiving a human kidney within five years were just 9%, while his risk of dying or being removed from the waiting list was more than 40%.

In January 2025, surgeons transplanted a kidney from a genetically modified Yucatan miniature pig named Wilma into Andrews. The organ worked for 271 days, allowing him to remain free from dialysis for the longest recorded period following a pig kidney transplant in a living human.

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