Imagine a world where unhealthy organs are replaced with transplants constructed with a 3D printer using the patient’s own cells. No more agonizing waits and desperate searches for a suitable donor organ, and, because the printed organs use cells from the patients themselves, no more fear of organ rejection. It might sound like science fiction set in the far off future, but thanks to the pioneering work of United Therapeutics , it may become a reality a lot sooner than you think, and it’s happening here in Maryland.
Co-headquartered in Silver Spring, United Therapeutics was founded in 1996 by Dr. Martine Rothblatt, a mom who wanted to save her 7 year-old daughter Jenesis who’d been diagnosed with a rare and serious disease called pulmonary arterial hypertension. Twenty seven years later, Jenesis has defied the odds and works at the company her mother founded to save her life.
Today, around 13,000 patients around the world are benefitting from United Therapeutics’ therapies, but it was in January of 2022 that the company made global headlines when physicians at the University of Maryland, Baltimore and University of Maryland Medical Center performed the first pig-to-human heart transplant using organs from a genetically modified pig from Revivicor, Inc., a United Therapeutics company. Of course, that earth shattering milestone was another amazing step for the trailblazing Maryland company.
Later in 2022, United Therapeutics and its partners again made history when they built a human lung scaffold, the basic structure of the lung, using one of the world’s most advanced 3D printers.
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