Patients are so sick and tired of waiting years for a transplant that they are signing up in droves to receive vital organs from pigs.

On a farm in the southern US state of Virginia, David Ayares and his research team breed genetically modified pigs to transplant their organs into human patients. Revivicor, Ayares’ leading biotech company, is at the forefront of xenotransplantation research — the transplantation of animal organs into humans — aimed at solving the chronic organ shortage that is killing thousands of Americans. every year.

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP—Getty Images