Family Of Henrietta Lacks Settles With Massachusetts Company Over Cell Use

WALTHAM, MA — The family of Henrietta Lacks and Waltham-based Thermo Fisher have reached a settlement agreement. This agreement was reached on Aug. 1, which would have been Lacks' 103rd birthday.

Lacks case rose to fame years after her cervical cancer cells were taken without consent while she was receiving treatment at Johns Hopkins in 1951. They became the first human cells to be successfully cloned, and, since, the HeLa cells have been a crucial part of scientific and medical research.

The settlement comes after closed-door negotiations on Monday within the federal courthouse in Baltimore.

"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 terms of the agreement will be confidential," the family's attorney, Ben Crump, said in a news release.

"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."

In the settlement, the Lacks Estate accused Thermo Fisher of using HeLa cells for "unjust enrichment". However, the family didn't seek monetary damages in the lawsuit.

Instead, the Lacks Estate brought attention to what they say is still a problem within the American medical system: racism.

"The exploitation of Henrietta Lacks represents the unfortunately common struggle experienced by Black people throughout history," the complaint reads. "Too often, the history of medical experimentation in the United States has been the history of medical racism."

Lacks, who was from Baltimore County, died at 31 and was buried in an unmarked grave. A poor tobacco farmer from southern Virginia, she was raising five children when doctors discovered a tumor in her cervix and saved a sample of her cancer cells collected during a biopsy.

Her story rose to the public conscious with the publication of the 2010 bestselling book "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks." Oprah Winfrey portrayed her daughter in an HBO movie based on the book.

Additional reporting by Megan VerHelst.