Your New Heart Could Be Made in China

Recently, a Chinese startup named Qihan Biotech raised $20 million to develop replacement organs for humans. The smallish deal would hardly have rated a headline, except for the fact that the Hangzhou-based gene-editing company is aiming to grow those organs in pigs and other animals. If successful, such transplants could well transform medicine. And, thanks to a unique confluence of need, money, timing and culture, China is poised to lead the way in developing them.

The history of using animal tissues to replace damaged or diseased human tissues, known as xenotransplantation, dates back at least to 16th century Europe. Science-based efforts gathered momentum in the 19th century, but stalled out as practitioners and patients discovered how strongly the human body rejects foreign organs. Medicine achieved a breakthrough only in the mid-20th century with the advent of immuno-suppressing drugs.