Henrietta Lacks’ family settles lawsuit with biotech company, paving the way for more claims, says attorney Ben Crump - New York Amsterdam News

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Living relatives of Henrietta Lacks have reached a confidential settlement with Thermo Fisher Scientific, the multi-billion-dollar biotechnology company that has used regenerative cells taken from Lacks decades ago without her consent.

The settlement sets a precedent, potentially leading to complaints seeking compensation and control of Lacks’ cells, famously known as “HeLa” cells, the world’s first cells capable of replicating outside the human body.

The Lacks family’s lawsuit addressed a problem that had persisted for 70 years following the unlawful removal of Henrietta Lacks’ cells while she was receiving cervical cancer treatment at Johns Hopkins Hospital. “Because it’s a racial justice issue when you think about it in the purest form,” Crump asserted. “The children of Henry Ford, they’re able to benefit from his contributions to the world.”

Following her death, researchers at Johns Hopkins discovered that the cells sampled from Lacks’ cervix could regenerate outside the human body. However, Maryland Democratic Rep. Kweisi Mfume and fellow Maryland Democrats U.S. Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin have introduced legislation seeking to award Lacks a Congressional Gold Medal posthumously.

 

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