Family of Henrietta Lacks, a Black woman whose cells were used for several medical breakthroughs, has announced plans to sue pharmaceutical giants that profited from those discoveries
The Lacks family has retained prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who has represented the relatives of many African Americans killed in incidents with police, including the loved ones of George Floyd.
"Black life must be valued in America," Crump said, announcing he would file a complaint on October 4 to mark the 70th anniversary of the disputed samples. Lacks' cells, dubbed HeLa cells, have enabled laboratories around the world to develop vaccines – especially against polio – as well as cancer treatments and certain cloning techniques, an industry worth billions of dollars.
Her family first discovered how Lacks had helped medical science in the 1970s, and only understood her legacy thanks to Rebecca Skloot, who wrote the 2010 best-seller "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks."Crump's colleague Christopher Seeger said the complaint would target any company that had "profited from the use" of the cells and had not reached an agreement to compensate the family.
Johns Hopkins Hospital says that it has never sold or benefited from the discovery or distribution of HeLa cells, and does not own the rights to them.
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