Henrietta Lacks’ Family Reaches Settlement With Company Using Her Cells

The descendants of Henrietta Lacks have scored a victory in their lawsuit against the company that has long used the woman’s cells.

In 1951, Lacks sought treatment at Johns Hopkins Hospital for cervical cancer. Unbeknownst to her, doctors took samples of her tumor’s tissue without Lacks ever knowing. After she died at age 31, the samples were used to make remarkable strides in medicine. Lacks’ cells were the first successfully cloned human cells, Fox 9 reports. Furthermore, this allowed them to be used forever, assisting in the development of the COVID-19 vaccine, polio vaccine, and more. Known as “HeLa cells,” they have been used by over 100 companies for research purposes. Sadly, neither Lacks nor her family has ever been able to reap the benefits of her contribution to modern medicine.

In 2021, her family sued the biotech company, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., seeking compensation for the use of the illegitimately obtained cells. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump represented the family in their fight for compensation. While the details surrounding the exact amount are confidential, Crump shared that both Thermo Fisher and the Lacks family are satisfied with the outcome of the lawsuit after negotiations all day on Monday. The company initially pushed back against the lawsuit, arguing that the statute of limitations absolved them from any liability in the suit. In the end, they agreed to pay the family.

“The parties are pleased that they were able to find a way to resolve this matter outside of Court and will have no further comment about the settlement,” Crump shared in a statement.