Debate continues swirling around the issues of animal-to-human organ transplant, stirring up ethical concerns as well as scientific ones. This much is certain: the companies involved in the area saw potential problems coming a long time ago, but placed bets they hoped would establish them as leaders in a new and lucrative market. Those bets may yet pay off, but the players will now be watched far more closely than they were just a few years ago.

Thousands die each year of end-stage organ failure. Transplantation is the preferred therapy, but there is a chronic shortage of human organs and organ rejection remains a problem. Bringing xenotransplantation to market has become a big company affair, but BioTransplant is a biotech still looking to win a piece of the market through an unusual partnership and unique technology.