The family of Henrietta Lacks is settling a lawsuit against a biotechnology company it accuses of improperly profiting from her cells
. Their federal lawsuit in Baltimore claimed Thermo Fisher Scientific has made billions from tissue taken without the Black woman’s consent from her cervical cancer tumor. BALTIMORE — — More than 70 years after doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital took Henrietta Lacks' cervical cells without her knowledge, a lawyer for her descendants said they have reached a settlement with a biotechnology company, accusing its leaders of reaping billions of dollars from a racist medical system.
Attorney Ben Crump, who represents the Lacks family, announced the settlement late Monday. He said the terms of the agreement are confidential. HeLa cells were discovered to have unique properties. While most cell samples died shortly after being removed from the body, her cells survived and thrived in laboratories. This exceptional quality made it possible to cultivate her cells indefinitely — they became known as the first immortalized human cell line — making it possible for scientists anywhere to reproduce studies using identical cells.
Johns Hopkins said it never sold or profited from the cell lines, but many companies have patented ways of using them. Thermo Fisher argued the case should be dismissed because it was filed after the statute of limitations expired, but attorneys for the family said that shouldn’t apply because the company is continuously benefitting from the cells.
“There couldn’t have been a more fitting day for her to have justice, for her family to have relief,” her grandson Alfred Lacks Carter Jr. said. “It was a long fight — over 70 years — and Henrietta Lacks gets her day.”
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