Family of Henrietta Lacks files new lawsuit over cells harvested without her consent

By LEA SKENE
Associated Press

BALTIMORE (AP) — The family of Henrietta Lacks has filed another lawsuit accusing a second company of unjustly profiting off her cells for generations. The lawsuit comes just over a week after the family reached a settlement agreement in a similar case filed in 2021. Lacks was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 1951, and doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital saved a sample of her cancer cells collected during a biopsy — without her knowledge or consent. She died at age 31, but her genetic material lived on and shaped modern medicine. The new lawsuit targets California-based biopharmaceutical company Ultragenyx. A company spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday evening.