Why are Hela cells immortal and important? All about Henrietta Lacks as family reaches settlement in Thermo Fisher lawsuit

African-American woman Henrietta Lacks' family has settled the case against the biotech company that they accused of reaping profits worth millions of dollars with the use of her "immortal" cells. The specifics of the settlement, which was reached on Monday, July 31, between Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. and Lacks' family, have not been disclosed to the public.

The Henrietta cells were essential for contemporary medical research because they were the first human cells to constantly grow and multiply in lab dishes. Their endurance made it possible to conduct genetic mapping studies and develop vaccinations against COVID-19 and polio.

However, Lacks' family argued that her cells were harvested in 1951 without her consent, and they never received any compensation for the "stolen" cells.

In 1951, 31-year-old Henrietta Lacks from Baltimore, Maryland, started having abdominal discomfort and unusual bleeding. Gynecologists at Johns Hopkins Hospital examined her and found a big tumor on her cervix. Before treating her for severe cervical cancer, the doctors sent a sample of her tumor to a lab for medical investigation without alerting her or asking for her consent. The cells taken from Lacks without her consent did not age and continued to reproduce indefinitely.

Months after her diagnosis, Lacks was placed in a segregated "colored ward" but ultimately passed away from cancer at the age of 31. She was buried in a grave with no sign.

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The harvesting of Henrietta Lacks' "Hela" cells was not illegal at the time

Henrietta Lacks "Hela" cells, which have been named by combining the late woman's first and last name, were sent to research centers globally and have played a significant role in medical advancements.

At the time, it wasn't against the law to take cells from people without their permission. But in a case brought in 2021, Lacks's family said that the biotech company Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has kept making money off of her cells, including by selling them.

Ben Crump, a civil rights lawyer who helped the family reach a deal with the biotechnology company Thermo Fisher, said that the treatment doctors did on Lacks caused her pain at the end of her life. He argued that the mistreatment received by Henrietta Lacks was comparable to that of other black citizens who have taken help from doctors.

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

In a joint statement issued on July 31, both parties said that they were "able to find a way to resolve this matter outside of Court" and denied any further comments.

Lacks was honored in 2021 by the World Health Organization (WHO), which said that it wanted to reverse a "historic wrong." The Lacks family was invited to the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, for the occasion, which also featured a conversation with them.

Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said:

“WHO acknowledges the importance of reckoning with past scientific injustices and advancing racial equity in health and science. It’s also an opportunity to recognize women — particularly women of colour — who have made incredible but often unseen contributions to medical science.”

No other information related to the settlement has been made public as of yet.