2nd Transplant Recipient of Genetically Modified Pig Heart Dies

The transplant was done under an FDA emergency approval process granted to experimental medical products.

In an operating room at the University of Maryland Medical Center, surgeons transfer a genetically modified pig heart to the operative field for transplant, in Baltimore, Maryland, on Sept. 20, 2023. Courtesy of University of Maryland School of Medicine

The second recipient of a genetically modified pig heart died on Monday six weeks after he underwent transplant surgery.

“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Lawrence Faucette, the 58-year-old patient with terminal heart disease who received the world’s second genetically-modified pig heart transplant,” the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM), which conducted the transplant, said in an Oct. 31 press release. “Mr. Faucette received the transplant on September 20 and lived for nearly six weeks following the surgery.”