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Promising Drugs for Hepatitis C
The Food and Drug Administration on April 25, 2011 published its review of a promising drug for Hepatitis C two days prior to scrutiny by an outside expert panel. The drug, BOCEPREVIR, by Merck & Co. and another drug, TELAPREVIR, by Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc., to be brought to FDA on April 28 are to act by blocking the enzyme Protease, which allows the hepatitis virus to reproduce. These drugs are different than the existing drugs such as RIBAVIRIN pills and INTERFERON-ALPHA injection which work by boosting immune system.Source: The Associated Press; The Dallas Morning News
Information Based on May 14, 2011, Edition of The Dallas Morning News
Food and Drug Administration on May 13, 2011 approved Merck's bumper Hepatitis C drug BOCEPREVIR (VICTRELIS). About 3.2 million in the U.S. have Hepatitis C and 12,000 people die from it.
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Organ Transplant Operation at Crossroads
America's organ transplant endeavor and the complex operation of shipping organs to 63 transplant centers face uncertain future, according to a front-page report carried by The Dallas Morning News on July 4, 2023. The uncertainty arose from a difference between the nation's transplant oversight body, United Network for Organ Sharing, or UNOS, and one of the nation's premier organ-screening companies, Buckeye Transplant Services, over the use of transplant data. UNOS accused Buckeye of using an automated tool that scoured UNOS' internal data, and subsequently prohibited the organ-screening company from accessing a nationwide system of the donated organs, DonorNet. As a result, Buckeye will be forced to stop the organ screening as early as this week, leaving the job of organ screening up to transplant center medical professionals. The net outcome is delayed and postponed organ transplantation, resulting in hundreds of avoidable deaths.
Research: Segregation Found to Hinder Access to Live Kidney Transplantation
The Washington Post reported on April 7, 2024 that a recent study, published in the JAMA Internal Medicine, found that the access rate to live kidney transplantation in a segregated area is less than that of in a less segregated area. The hurdle to live kidney access is universal irrespective of race. The researchers included 162,587 first live-donor kidney transplant candidates from January 1995 to December 2021, and tracked the candidates on an average of 1.9 years.
The researchers found that
* 7.1% Black transplant candidates in the more racially segregated neighborhood did receive a live kidney over a three-year period vs. 9.0% accessibility for Black recipients in less segregated areas
* 19.7% White transplant candidates in the more racially segregated neighborhood did receive a live kidney over a three-year period vs. 20.1% accessibility for White recipients in less segregated areas
HEART TRANSPLANT
First Transplant of Pig Heart in Human
In the first ever, hopefully successful, animal-to-human transplant, also known as Xenotransplantation, the heart from a genetically modified pig was implanted in a dying man, 57-year-old David Bennett. The transplant was performed by Dr. Bartley Griffith, a distinguished professor at the University of Maryland Medical Center. The medical team took more than seven hours to perform the transplant on January 7, 2022. On January 10, 2022, a statement was issued on behalf of the medical center, saying that Mr. Bennett was doing well. If Mr. David Bennett continues to improve, it will herald a new era of organ transplant. Previously, xenotransplantation was tried, but human bodies had rejected those organs. Most notably, in 1984, Baby Fae, a dying infant, survived 21 days with a baboon heart. But this time, it is different as the pig used for heart transplant has to go through the gene-editing process to remove a sugar in its cells that's responsible for hyper-fast organ rejection. The organ came from Revivicor, a division of United Therapeutics.
Bennett Dies
David Bennett, who made news after receiving a curated pig's heart in January 2022 and apparently was doing well in the aftermath of the transplant, died on March 8, 2022. The surgeon who led the transplant surgery, Dr. Bartley Griffith, issued a statement on March 9, 2022, calling Bennett "a brave and noble patient who fought all the way to the end".
Second Patient to Receive Pig Heart Transplant Reported Doing Well after a Month
Lawrence Faucette became the second patient to receive a highly genetically modified heart from a pig. The surgeons at the University of Maryland Medical Center on September 20, 2023 performed the highly experimental procedure to implant a pig heart in Faucette. The first patient to receive xenotransplantation died after two months. Although the exact cause for the death of David Bennett was not known, there were traces of virus found in his transplanted heart. That gave some lessons in terms of better full-proofing the process with more precise virus testing and other improved protocols in the second xenotransplantation.
On October 20, 2023, a month after the transplantation, a video of a relatively healthy Lawrence Faucette was released by the medical center. The head of the transplantation team, Dr. Muhammad Mohiuddin, said that Faucette's "heart is doing everything on its own".
Faucette Dies Six Weeks After Pig Heart Transplant
Lawrence Faucette passed away six weeks after a successful transplant of pig heart into his body, according to a statement issued on October 31, 2023 by the University of Maryland Medical Center.
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Successful Pig Kidney Transplant in Human
Massachusetts General Hospital doctors on March 16, 2024 made a historical leap in advancing the pig-to-human organ transplantation as they performed a four-hour medical procedure to transplant a genetically edited pig kidney into Richard Slayman. Richard Slayman lived for 52 days after a pig kidney transplantation.
Second Pig Kidney Transplantation, First Woman to Receive Xenotransplantation
The NYU Langone Transplant Institute announced on April 24, 2024 that the U.S. had its second human transplantation of the genetically modified pig kidney in recent days. The patient, Lisa Pisano, 54, is now recovering well, according to Langone Transplant Institute. Lisa Pisano is the first woman to receive a pig organ. What made Lisa Pisano's case more novel compared to Richard Slayman's kidney Xenotransplantation is that Pisano's heart has failed too, thus disqualifying her from traditional transplant procedure. First, doctors had to stabilize her failing heart by implanting a pump, Left Ventricular Assist Device, or LVAD, on April 4, 2024. Her kidney transplantation happened on April 12, 2024.
Lisa Pisano died after 86 days although her kidney had to be removed after 47 days.
*********** TOWANA LOONEY ************
First Xenotransplant Outlives a Crucial Threshold
Towana Looney is the first person with pig-to-human transplant that has lived more than 60 days, a milestone and achievement, The Dallas Morning News has reported in its January 26, 2025, print edition. There were only four other people in the U.S. who had received a pig organ, two each in kidney and heart. None of them lived beyond two months.
Pig Kidney Removed after Recipient's Body Begins Rejecting
After 130 days, the Xenotransplant seems to be not working as the immune system of Towana Looney begins to reject the transplanted pig kidney. On April 4, 2025, Towana Looney's transplanted pig kidney was removed and she was back on dialysis. Her doctors made a public announcement on April 11, 2025.
*********** TOWANA LOONEY ************
FDA Approves Clinical Trial for Pig Kidney Transplantation
The Food and Drug Administration gave two biopharma firms to run clinical trial for Xenotransplantation from pigs to humans after the gene-editing process, United Therapeutics Corp. and eGenesis both announced on February 4, 2025. Before formal approval for the clinical trial, FDA granted compassionate-care approval for such Xenotransplantation.
New Hampshire Man Receives Pig Kidney Transplant
A New Hampshire man, Tim Andrews, 66, received Xenotransplantation of a genetically modified kidney on January 25, 2025, the hospital that had carried out the procedure, Massachusetts General Hospital, announced on February 7, 2025.
A Second N.H. Man Successfully Receives Xenotransplant
The Dallas Morning News reported in its September 9, 2025, edition that a second New Hampshire man, Bill Stewart, was faring well after receiving a genetically modified pig kidney transplant at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston on June 14, 2025. Another New Hampshire man, Tim Andrews, received a transplant in January 2025. Meanwhile, Food and Drug Administration approved a rigorous study on xenotransplant that would be led by Dr. Leonardo Riella of Mass General.
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AIDS-Infected Now Allowed to Donate Organ for Transplant
In a leap forward towards destigmatizing AIDS and the people afflicted by it, U.S. okayed kidney or liver transplant from a donor with AIDS to a receiver with AIDS. The new policy of organ donation went into effect on November 27, 2024.
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UNOS Extends Deadline for Cutting off Access to Its Database
The body that manages the nation's complex organ transplant system is extending a deadline for a vendor to cut off access to a key UNOS database to July 19, 2023. Buckeye Transplant Services filed a lawsuit on July 2, 2023 contesting the UNOS' decision to cut off its access to the database, DonorNet, beginning this week. UNOS alleged that Buckeye was using an automated tool to collect proprietary transplant data. The clash between UNOS and Buckeye is so convoluted that the government agency, Health Resources and Services Administration, that regulates the nation's transplant system has distanced itself from both the entities. The Washington Post reported on July 4, 2023 about the database access cutoff extension.
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