More people need transplants than there are organ donors, pigs might be a solution

(CNN)– An average of 17 people in the U.S. die waiting to get a new organ every day.

What if there was another source of organs besides humans? There may be.

Pigs could be the future of human organ transplants.

Recent advances in pig cloning and gene editing and a better understanding of infection control have led a handful of institutions to make breakthroughs.

Those key steps could allow the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to sign off on a clinical trial in the near future.