Henrietta Lacks’ Estate Sues for Profits Derived From Tissue

The estate of a woman who represents how Black patients have been exploited by the medical establishment sued a large biotechnology firm for the money it made by selling products derived from her tissue.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. “made staggering profits” off of tissue taken from Henrietta Lacks during cervical cancer-related surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1951, a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland alleges.

The company recorded revenue of $32.22 billion in 2020 alone, long after it learned the “HeLa” cells were “stolen” from Lacks, the estate says. But neither Lacks, who died shortly after the surgery, nor her family has ever “seen a dime,” it says.

In the 1950s, Johns Hopkins was one of the few hospitals that treated Black patients—albeit in racially segregated wards, the complaint says. Lacks went there for a malignant tumor on her cervix. A doctor removed two parts of the cervix during surgery, ostensibly to treat the tumor, it says.

But harvesting the tissue wasn’t medically necessary, and Lacks hadn’t consented to it, the complaint says. Months later, Lacks said she wouldn’t have agreed to the course of treatment had she known it would leave her infertile.

The harvested cells survived and thrived in research laboratories, becoming the first known “immortal cell line,” according to the complaint. The polio vaccine, gene mapping, and in vitro fertilization are among the medical and scientific developments attributable to the cell lines’ use, it says.

Many medical advances—and the profits derived from them—have been fueled by “Black suffering,” the complains says.

Thermo Fisher is still using the cell lines to mass-produce tissue sold to buyers worldwide, the complaint says. Because of its actions, Lacks’ family has been robbed of the comfort of knowing her body was treated with respect, and their own genetic information is widely available, it says.

The company’s “choice to continue selling HeLa cells” despite knowing the cells lines’ origins “can only be understood as a choice to embrace a legacy of racial injustice embedded in the US research and medical systems,” Monday’s complaint says.

Cause of Action: Unjust enrichment.

Relief: Disgorgement of profits made by commercializing HeLa cell lines; order permanently blocking Thermo Fisher from using the HeLa cell lines without permission; impose constructive trust on cells Thermo Fisher possess, all related intellectual property, and proceeds related to the cells’ use; reasonable costs and attorneys’ fees.

Response: Thermo Fisher didn’t immediately respond to Bloomberg Law’s request for comment.

Attorneys: Law Offices of Kim Parker PA, Seeger Weiss LLP, and Ben Crump Law PLLC represent the estate.

The case is Estate of Lacks v. Thermo Fisher Sci., Inc., D. Md., No. 21-cv-2524, complaint filed 10/4/21.