The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the first-ever clinical trials testing pig kidney transplants in people with kidney failure, marking a major step forward in cross-species transplantation.

The first clinical trials using organs from genetically modified pigs offer hope to patients with kidney failure, who face a long wait for human organ transplants.

The research offers hope to tens of thousands of patients with kidney failure who are on a long waiting list for an organ transplant.