Henrietta Lacks' family settles lawsuit over use of HeLa cells to advance medical research

Attorneys representing the family of Henrietta Lacks on Tuesday announced a settlement of their lawsuit against Thermo Fisher over the use of cells in scientific research.

The lawsuit demanded the family be paid for the company's use of Lacks' cells, which were taken without consent in the 1950s and used in research. Lacks' cells were biopsied when she visited Johns Hopkins Hospital for treatment of cervical cancer.

Known as HeLa cells, the cells from Lacks' body led advanced research in a wide range of medical fields, including vaccine development, cancer treatments and AIDS research.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump and attorney Chris Seeger released a statement about the settlement on Tuesday, which would have been Lacks' 103rd birthday.

"Members of the family of Henrietta Lacks and Thermo Fisher have agreed to settle the litigation filed by Henrietta Lacks’ Estate, in U.S. District Court in Baltimore," the statement said. "The terms of the agreement will be confidential. 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."

Thermo Fisher representatives confirmed the settlement but said in a statement they also had no further comment.

Her cells became fundamental to medicine But Henrietta Lacks' cells were taken without consent.

How were Henrietta Lacks' cells obtained?

Lacks was 31 when she received treatment at Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1951 for cervical cancer. Dr. George Gey collected a sample of tissue on a tumor in her body without her knowledge. The case was chronicled in the 2010 best-selling book "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks," which was later adapted into an HBO film starring Oprah Winfrey.

Unlike other cells Gey had worked with, Lacks' continued to divide and were viable outside her body in test tubes. That allowed researchers to perform tests on them and for the cell line to be shared widely.

The procedure left Lacks infertile, Crump said when the lawsuit was filed in 2021. She died the same year the tissue was removed, her family unaware her cells had been taken and used for research until decades later.

Crump described the pain Lacks suffered in the last months of her life as a result of the procedure. While Lacks was experimented upon, he said, her experiences were similar to many other Black people who have been mistreated in the medical system throughout history.

In its updated lawsuit, Lacks' family claimed Thermo Fisher was "unjustly enriched" each time "it cultivates, sells and receives payment for newly-replicated HeLa cells."

The lawsuit asked a judge to award the Henrietta Lacks' estate three years of profit obtained by commercializing the HeLa cells and prohibit the company from using HeLa cells without the family's permission.

In a motion filed in January, Thermo Fisher asked the judge to dismiss the lawsuit, alleging the claim was not filed within Maryland's three-year statute of limitations.

Furthermore, the company's court filing said it does not sell HeLa cells. Even though some products contain the HeLa name, the company's motion said these products are genetically distinct from HeLa cells. Allowing the lawsuit to continue, the filing said, would "needlessly prolong a painful, futile exercise."

Historic privacy agreement: Federal researchers set privacy agreement for genetics studies based on Henrietta Lacks' now-famous cancer cells.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Henrietta Lacks' family announces settlement of Thermo Fisher lawsuit