- \n
- Henrietta Lacks, a Black Maryland patient who was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 1951, had her cells collected during a biopsy without her consent.<\/strong><\/li>\n
- The descendants\u00a0of Henrietta is now suing Ultragenyx, a California-based biopharmaceutical company accused of profiting from a\u00a0racist medical system\u00a0that took advantage of Lacks.<\/strong><\/li>\n
- The lawsuit comes just over a week after Henrietta\u2019s family settled another lawsuit against a biotech company accused of also unjustly reaping rewards from those collected cells.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Just over a week after Henrietta Lacks\u2019 descendants settled a lawsuit against a biotech company they accused of unjustly profiting off her cells for generations, the family\u2019s attorneys have filed another claim against a different corporation.<\/p>\n
The new lawsuit, which targets California-based biopharmaceutical company Ultragenyx, was filed Thursday in Baltimore federal court, the same venue as the recently settled case. Lawyers for the family have said they plan to bring a series of lawsuits against various entities that continue to reap rewards from the racist medical system that took advantage of Lacks.<\/p>\n
A Black mother of five from southern Virginia, Lacks and her family were living outside Baltimore when she was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 1951. Doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital saved a sample of her cancer cells collected during a biopsy \u2014 without her knowledge or consent.<\/p>\n
HENRIETTA LACKS FAMILY SETTLES WITH BIOTECH COMPANY THERMO FISHER IN LAWSUIT ALLEGING RACIST US MEDICAL SYSTEM<\/strong><\/p>\n
She died at age 31 in the hospital\u2019s “colored ward,” but her genetic material lived on, the first human cells to continuously grow and reproduce in lab dishes. HeLa cells have since become a cornerstone of modern medicine, enabling countless scientific and medical innovations, including the development of the polio vaccine, genetic mapping and even COVID-19 shots.<\/p>\n
The complaint says Ultragenyx has made a fortune by using HeLa cells to develop gene therapy products.<\/p>\n
“Medical research has a long, troubled racial history,” attorneys for the family wrote. “The exploitation of Henrietta Lacks represents the unfortunately common struggle experienced by Black people throughout American history. Indeed, Black suffering has fueled innumerable medical progress and profit, without just compensation or recognition.”<\/p>\n
\n![\"Descendants](\"https:\/\/a57.foxnews.com\/static.foxnews.com\/foxnews.com\/content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/640\/320\/court-date.jpg?ve=1&tl=1\")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n\n\nDescendants of\u00a0Henrietta\u00a0Lacks walk outside the federal courthouse in Baltimore on Oct. 4, 2021.\u00a0<\/span> (AP Photo\/Steve Ruark, file)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
A spokesperson for Ultragenyx didn\u2019t immediately respond to an email seeking comment Thursday evening.<\/p>\n
At the time doctors harvested cells from Lacks\u2019 cervical tumor, it was not illegal to do so without a patient\u2019s permission. But lawyers for her family accuse Ultragenyx of continuing to commercialize the results long after the origins of the HeLa cell line became well known \u2014 an “unjust enrichment” claim that largely mirrors the recently settled lawsuit against Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., which was filed in 2021. The terms of that settlement haven\u2019t been disclosed.<\/p>\n
The agreement came after several hours of closed-door negotiations earlier this month. Some of Lacks\u2019 grandchildren were among the family members who attended the talks in Baltimore\u2019s federal courthouse. They held a news conference the following morning on what would have been Lacks\u2019 103rd birthday, saying justice had finally been won.<\/p>\n
MARIA MENOUNOS WAS ‘F—ING GUTTED OVER CANCER DIAGNOSIS AFTER DOCTORS INITIALLY MISSED TUMOR<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n
Her cells have had a massive impact on modern medicine because unlike most, they survived and thrived in laboratories, allowing researchers anywhere to reproduce studies using identical genetic material.<\/p>\n
The remarkable science involved \u2014 and the impact on the Lacks family, some of whom had chronic illnesses and no health insurance \u2014 were documented in a bestselling book by Rebecca Skloot, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” which was published in 2010. Oprah Winfrey portrayed her daughter in an HBO movie about the story.<\/p>\n
Johns Hopkins said it never sold or profited from the cell lines, but many companies have patented ways of using them.<\/p>\n
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n
The lawsuit filed Thursday claims Ultragenyx leadership failed to seek permission from Lacks\u2019 descendants after realizing where HeLa cells came from.<\/p>\n
“Ultragenyx\u2019s choice to continue utilizing HeLa cells despite the cell line\u2019s origin and the concrete harm it inflicts on the Lacks family can only be understood as a choice to embrace a legacy of racial injustice embedded in the U.S. research and medical systems,” attorney Ben Crump said in a statement. “Like anyone else, Black people have the right to control their bodies.”<\/p>\n
Crump, a civil rights attorney, has become well known for representing victims of police violence and calling for racial justice, especially in the aftermath of George Floyd\u2019s murder. After the recent settlement, Crump said the family was planning to file more lawsuits.<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n
#Family #cancer #patient #Henrietta #Lacks #sues #company #accused #unjustly #profiting #cells #years<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Henrietta Lacks, a Black Maryland patient who was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 1951, had her cells collected during a biopsy without her consent. The descendants\u00a0of Henrietta is now suing Ultragenyx, a California-based biopharmaceutical company accused of profiting from a\u00a0racist medical system\u00a0that took advantage of Lacks. The lawsuit comes just over a week after Henrietta\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4881,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsbuzz24x7.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4880"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsbuzz24x7.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsbuzz24x7.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsbuzz24x7.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsbuzz24x7.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsbuzz24x7.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4880\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsbuzz24x7.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsbuzz24x7.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsbuzz24x7.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsbuzz24x7.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- The descendants\u00a0of Henrietta is now suing Ultragenyx, a California-based biopharmaceutical company accused of profiting from a\u00a0racist medical system\u00a0that took advantage of Lacks.<\/strong><\/li>\n