Estate of Woman With 'Immortal' Cells Sues Biotech Firm

Lawsuit says cells were taken from Henrietta Lacks without her consent 70 years ago
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Oct 4, 2021 1:47 PM CDT
Descendants of Henrietta Lacks Sue Biotech Firm
The exterior of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., in Waltham, Mass.   (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia, File)

The estate of Henrietta Lacks sued a biotechnology company on Monday, accusing it of selling cells that doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital took from the Black woman in 1951 without her knowledge or consent as part of "a racially unjust medical system." The estate’s federal lawsuit says Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., of Waltham, Massachusetts, knowingly mass produced and sold tissue that was taken from Lacks by doctors at the hospital, the AP reports. The HeLa cells taken from the woman's tumor before she died of cervical cancer became the first human cells to be successfully cloned and have been reproduced infinitely ever since.

The cells have been used in countless scientific and medical innovations including the development of the polio vaccine and gene mapping. Lacks’ cells were harvested and developed long before the advent of consent procedures used in medicine and scientific research today, but lawyers for the family say the company has continued to commercialize the results well after the origins of the HeLa cell line became well known. "Thermo Fisher Scientific has known that HeLa cells were stolen from Ms. Lacks and chose to use her body for profit anyway,” the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit asks the court in Baltimore to order Thermo Fisher Scientific to “disgorge the full amount of its net profits obtained by commercializing the HeLa cell line to the Estate of Henrietta Lacks.” It also seeks an order permanently enjoining Thermo Fisher Scientific from using the HeLa cell line without the estate's permission. "The exploitation of Henrietta Lacks represents the unfortunately common struggle experienced by Black people throughout history," the suit says.

story continues below

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. The remarkable science involved—and the impact on the Lacks family, some of whom suffered from chronic illnesses without health insurance—have been documented in a bestselling book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. The lawsuit was filed exactly 70 years after the day she died, on Oct. 4, 1951.

(More Henrietta Lacks stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X