Medicine in 15 Years: Gene Therapy, Replacement Organs and the Hospital in Your Living Room (2041)

Looking 15 years ahead, we leave the area that can be derived directly from today’s studies. Nevertheless, the foundations for many developments have already been laid: the first gene-editing therapies have been approved, pig kidneys are working in humans, and hospitals are starting to care for patients at home.

About this series: “The Future of Medicine” looks ahead 5, 10, 15, 25, 50 and 100 years. The further ahead we look, the more speculative the scenarios become. This version: October 2026.

Gene therapy: from the individual case to a modular toolkit

In 2024, Casgevy became the first therapy using the CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing tool to be approved in the EU – for sickle cell disease and a severe form of beta thalassaemia. In 2025, an infant in Philadelphia with a rare metabolic disease (CPS1 deficiency) became the first person to receive gene editing developed specifically for his mutation. About six months passed from the decision to the first dose. The results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Possible scenario for 2041: for many rare inherited diseases there are standardised “toolkit” therapies in which only the guide molecule is adapted to the respective mutation. Approval is granted for the platform, not for each variant individually. The major hurdles today are costs, safe delivery to different organs and knowledge of long-term effects.

Assessment: partly likely; scope and costs open.

Organs from animals and from the laboratory

In Germany, thousands of people are waiting for a donor organ. One way out could be xenotransplantation: the transplantation of genetically modified pig organs. In 2025, a 67-year-old patient in the USA lived for 271 days with a pig kidney before it had to be removed again – a record. The first clinical trials have begun.

At the same time, research is being carried out on laboratory-grown organs: organoids, i.e. miniature organs grown from stem cells, are already being used for drug testing. 3D-printed tissue is being trialled for simple structures such as cartilage or skin. Fully functioning, complex printed organs are unlikely by 2041.

Assessment: xenotransplantation of kidneys as a treatment option possible by 2041; laboratory-grown hearts and livers unlikely.

The hospital in your living room

Many treatments that currently require a hospital stay could take place at home by 2041: monitoring via sensors, infusions by mobile nursing teams, ward rounds by video, laboratory values by self-test. “Hospital at Home” programmes are being trialled in several countries. In an ageing society with scarce hospital beds, this is an obvious development. For it to succeed, reliable technology, sufficient nursing staff and relatives who are not overburdened are needed.

Assessment: likely for selected conditions.

Interfaces between brain and computer

In studies, implanted brain–computer interfaces have already enabled people with paralysis to control a computer or to communicate via synthetic speech. By 2041, such systems could be available as medical devices for severely paralysed people. For healthy people they remain an ethically and medically controversial vision.

Assessment: possible for severe paralysis; mass use unlikely.

Health in a changing climate

Heatwaves, new disease vectors such as certain mosquito species and longer pollen seasons will occupy medicine more by 2041. Heat protection plans, early warning systems and the adjustment of medication doses during heat are likely to become part of everyday life in practices and care homes.

How we will know whether this scenario is coming true

• Number of approved gene therapies and their prices
• Regulatory pathways for personalised platform therapies
• Results of the first clinical trials of xenotransplantation
• Reimbursement of hospital-level treatment in the home setting
• Approval of the first brain–computer interfaces as medical devices

Note: This article describes possible developments based on current knowledge. It is not a prediction and does not constitute medical advice.

Updates

• October 2026: first version

Sources

• Pharmazeutische Zeitung: Erste CRISPR/Cas9-Gentherapie in der EU zugelassen (2024)
• Scientific American: In World First, Baby Receives Personalized CRISPR Gene-Editing Treatment (May 2025)
• HealthDay: Man Lives 271 Days With Pig Kidney, Setting Medical Record (October 2025)
• MIT Technology Review: Personalized gene editing – 10 Breakthrough Technologies 2026
• Bundesinstitut für Öffentliche Gesundheit: organspende-info.de