Henrietta Lacks’ cells enabled huge advances in medical science, and the cell line is still being used in research institutes worldwide.
Lacks’ family never received any compensation, and have fought for years to get justice for the “stolen” cells.
The details of the settlement reached with Massachusetts-based Thermo Fisher Scientific Incorporation have not been made public.
Lacks, a thirty-year-old mother from Baltimore, Maryland, began experiencing pain in her abdomen and abnormal bleeding in 1951. She was examined by gynaecologists at Johns Hopkins Hospital, who discovered a large mass on her cervix.
Without informing her or asking for permission, doctors sent a sample of her tumour to a lab for medical research before treating her for aggressive cervical cancer.
