A US biotechnology company reached a settlement agreement with the family Henrietta Lacks,A woman of African descent whose cells were used in groundbreaking medical research, without her consent.
Ben Crump announced Tuesday that Thermo Fisher Scientific, a Massachusetts-based company, had reached a confidential agreement with the Lacks family. Crump filed the lawsuit in 2021.
“The parties are pleased that they were able to find a way to resolve this matter outside of court,” Crump said, noting that Tuesday would have been Lacks’ 103rd birthday.
Crump, a lawyer who represented the family members of George Floyd, and other Black victims, has said that the settlement “provides some measure of justice to Henrietta Lacks 70 years later.”
Lacks, 31, a tobacco farmer in Virginia and mother to five children, was arrested on Monday. Cervical cancer is the cause of death for many womenIn 1951, at Johns Hopkins Hospital Baltimore.
Lacks’ abnormally resistant body was a major obstacle to her being cured shortly before she passed away. CancerCells were removed from the tumor. The use of this product has been around for many decadesHer family was not informed of the research.
The cells are also known as HeLa for the first letters of her first and last names, were the first-ever human cells to grow endlessly in the lab – all others harvested up to that point died.
Nobel Prizes
Research using the cells led to Nobel Prize-winning discoveries, and laboratories worldwide used them to develop vaccines – notably against polio – as well as in cloning, in-vitro fertilization and many medicines, fueling an industry now worth billions of dollars.
Rebecca Skloot’s bestseller from 2010 helped to bring the full extent of Lacks’ role to light. The family had no idea of his involvement until the 1970s. The Immortal Lives of Henrietta L Lacks.
Lacks’ story was also the subject of an HBO movie starring Oprah Winfrey.
Kimberly Lacks, her granddaughter, said that the theft of her cell was racist in 2021.
Thermo Fisher Scientific confirmed that the settlement was reached, using the exact same language as Crump & Seeger family lawyers.
Seeger stated that Thermo Fisher would be the first of several companies to face legal action if they “profited” from the HeLa cell use.
Johns Hopkins Hospital has stated that they have never profited or sold HeLa cells. They also do not own their rights.
Johns Hopkins offered HeLa cell lines for scientific research freely and widely.
It added that “Johns Hopkins worked closely with members of the Lacks Family over the last decade to honor and recognize Henrietta Lacks. This included scholarships, engagement with the local schools, and annual symposia.”
