United Therapeutics completes organ donor pig facility in Stewartville

United Therapeutics completes organ donor pig facility in Stewartville

On September 1, Post Bulletin reported that United Therapeutics had completed a $110 million facility designed to house 150 gene-edited pigs whose organs the company plans to use for human transplants.

Xenotransplantation is the transplantation of animal organs into humans. This project will use gene-edited pigs as donors. The herd will be kept free of a predefined set of infectious pathogens, allowing the company to control infection risks before organs are retrieved.

The facility covers 65 thousand square feet and will employ approximately 25 people. It includes laboratories, a veterinary clinic and two surgical suites.

Rodney Lamb, who leads technical operations for the United Therapeutics xenotransplantation program, described the clean area as a “building within a building”:

“Essentially, we created a building within a building to maintain the highest possible level of cleanliness.”

The inner clean area is separated from the rest of the building. Staff wear protective suits when working with the animals, and equipment and supplies are sterilized with hydrogen peroxide before being brought inside. These procedures are intended to maintain the conditions needed for the pigs to serve as organ donors for patients.

The company has also acquired 207 acres for future pig organ production facilities next to the completed facility. The first facility is now ready to receive animals.