Woman becomes longest living survivor after pig organ transplant
Towana Looney is said to be thriving 61 days after receiving a pig’s kidney.
An Alabama woman passed a major milestone on Saturday to become the longest living recipient of a pig organ transplant – healthy and full of energy with her new kidney for 61 days and counting.
“I’m superwoman,” Towana Looney, 53, told the Associated Press, laughing about outpacing family members on long walks around New York City as she continues her recovery. “It’s a new take on life.”
Ms Looney’s vibrant recovery is a morale boost in the quest to make animal-to-human transplants a reality.
Only four other Americans have received hugely experimental transplants of gene-edited pig organs: two hearts and two kidneys, and none lived more than two months.
“If you saw her on the street, you would have no idea that she’s the only person in the world walking around with a pig organ inside them that’s functioning,” said Dr Robert Montgomery of NYU Langone Health, who led Ms Looney’s transplant.
Dr Montgomery called Ms Looney’s kidney function “absolutely normal”.
Doctors hope she can leave New York – where she’s temporarily living for post-transplant check-ups – for her Gadsden, Alabama, home in about another month.
“We’re quite optimistic that this is going to continue to work and work well for, you know, a significant period of time,” he said.
Scientists are genetically altering pigs so their organs are more human-like to address a severe shortage of transplantable human organs.
More than 100,000 people are on the US transplant list, most who need a kidney, and thousands die waiting.
Pig organ transplants so far have been “compassionate use” cases, experiments the Food and Drug Administration allows only in special circumstances for people out of other options.
And the handful of hospitals trying them are sharing information of what worked and what did not, in preparation for the world’s first formal studies of xenotransplantation, expected to begin sometime this year.
United Therapeutics, which supplied Ms Looney’s kidney, recently asked the Food and Drug Administration for permission to begin a trial.
Discharged just 11 days after the November 25 surgery, Dr Montgomery’s team has closely tracked her recovery through blood tests and other measurements.
Dr Montgomery said they successfully treated Ms Looney and there has been no sign of rejection since.
“The truth is we don’t really know what the next hurdles are because this is the first time we’ve gotten this far,” Dr Montgomery said. “We’ll have to continue to really keep a close eye on her.”
