Pig-to-Human Transplant Center to Be Built in Minnesota [Video]

A pig-to-human transplant center is being built in Minnesota, local media has reported.

United Therapeutics, a U.S. biotech company, has purchased 32 acres of land in Stewartville for $4.5 million to build the state-of-the-art facility, a Post Bulletin report said.

Per the outlet, Dewey Steadman, United Therapeutics’ head of investor relations, said the company was “constructing a state-of-the-art pilot scale designated pathogen-free facility to support clinical research using potentially lifesaving, gene-edited pig organs for transplant into patients who have end stage organ diseases of the heart and kidney.”

The site is close to the Mayo Clinic, a nonprofit academic medical center. While the facility is not associated with the clinic, Steadman said the location played a role in the company’s decision to purchase the site.

“Proximity to Mayo (Clinic), which is a major transplant center, as well as proximity to the Rochester airport were important to us,” he told the Post Bulletin. “It does not …