As part of our Black History Month celebrations, we are shining a spotlight on some key Black figures in the history of science. Few individuals in medical history have had as great an impact as Henrietta Lacks. Yet for decades, her story remained largely untold — a Black woman whose cells became one of the most important tools in medicine, but who never gave consent, and whose family fought for years to be recognised and respected.
Who Was Henrietta Lacks?
Henrietta Lacks was a 31-year-old African American mother of five when she went to Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1951 seeking treatment for an aggressive form of cervical cancer. During her treatment, doctors removed a small sample of her cancer cells without her knowledge. Those cells would become known as HeLa (as in Henrietta Lacks) cells.
HeLa Cells: A Scientific Revolution
Henrietta’s cells turned out to be extremely unusual. Most human cells have a built-in limit to how many times they can divide. After that, they become old and die. But HeLa cells defy this rule. They can keep dividing indefinitely if they’re given the right conditions.
For this reason, they’re often called “immortal.” The cells were also found to be very fast-growing and resilient. These attributes of HeLa cells launched a medical revolution and, amongst many other uses, were instrumental in advancing cancer research.
More than 70,000 scientific studies to date have involved HeLa cells. Henrietta’s biological material made its way into labs across the world — often sold by biotech companies — but her family remained in poverty, unaware of her contribution or the billions made from her cells.
Ethical Reckoning and the Question of Consent
The case of Henrietta Lacks exposed deep ethical violations in the medical community, particularly surrounding the rights of patients, especially poor and Black patients. For decades, the Lacks family had no idea Henrietta’s cells were being used worldwide, let alone that companies were profiting off them. When they did find out, it was through chance.
The family began to piece together the full story in the 1970s when a scientist casually mentioned Henrietta’s cells during a conversation with her children. Later, a journalist interviewed the family and explained in more detail that Henrietta’s cells were alive, being used around the world, and even sold by commercial labs, all without their knowledge.
The lack of consent and the absence of compensation raised serious questions about medical ethics, privacy, and racial inequity in healthcare and research.
The Intellectual Property Fight
In 2021, seventy years after her cells were first taken, the Lacks family took a historic legal step. They filed a lawsuit against Thermo Fisher Scientific, one of many companies that profited from the HeLa cell line. The family argued that the company had “made a conscious choice to sell and mass produce HeLa cells, despite the cell line’s origin and the lack of consent from Henrietta or her family.”
Many legal precedents have historically said that a patient does not have property rights in his discarded cells or profits therefrom.
However, the Lacks’ lawsuit mainly centred on the issue of unjust enrichment. They argued that the company enriched itself through the exploitation of Henrietta’s cells, which were taken without informed consent.
In 2023, Henrietta Lacks’ family reached a confidential settlement with Thermo Fisher Scientific. Though the financial terms were not made public, the settlement was a historic acknowledgement:
- It was the first time a private company publicly resolved a legal claim over the commercial use of HeLa cells.
- The family’s legal team described it as a “landmark moment” in the fight for Black Americans’ rights in biomedical science.
- Thermo Fisher issued a rare public statement recognising Henrietta Lacks’ legacy and contributions to science.
The Lacks family has since filed similar lawsuits against other biotech companies, namely Ultragenyx and Novartis & Viatris, which are still ongoing.
Stories like Henrietta’s illustrate the importance of recognising how discrimination can affect lives within the medical and life sciences sectors. At Forresters, our Equality & Diversity Group remains committed to fostering these conversations and promoting greater awareness and inclusion across these industries.
