Judge allows unjust enrichment suit for use of cancer patient's 'immortal' cells
A federal judge in Maryland has ruled that the estate of Henrietta Lacks can proceed with its lawsuit alleging that a pharmaceutical company unjustly profited from use of her “immortal” cells. (Photo by Emw, CC-BY-SA-3.0,2.5,2.0,1.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
A federal judge in Maryland has ruled that the estate of Henrietta Lacks can proceed with its lawsuit alleging that a pharmaceutical company unjustly profited from use of her “immortal” cells.
In a May 20 opinion, U.S. District Judge Deborah L. Boardman of the District of Maryland rejected a motion to dismiss filed by Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc.
Doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital had taken samples of Lacks’ cells without her consent when the Black woman was a cervical cancer patient in a segregated ward more than 70 years ago. She died a few months later.
“Yet the end of Henrietta Lacks’ life was not the end of her story,” Boardman wrote. “As it turned out, her cells could replicate indefinitely under the right conditions. As a result, the ‘immortal’ cells that now bear her name—HeLa cells—have enabled scientists around the world to conduct breakthrough medical research that has saved the lives of countless people Henrietta Lacks herself never knew.”
The HeLa cells were distributed to scientists for free. Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical uses the cells to develop gene therapies that target “orphan diseases,” which affect so few people that treatment is not profitable. The company has monetized its work through partnerships with pharmaceutical companies, according to the suit.
The estate had sued through its personal representative Ron L. Lacks, who is Henrietta Lacks’ grandson.
Boardman said the estate had pleaded the three elements of unjust enrichment in Maryland: that Henrietta Lacks conferred a benefit on Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical; that the company knew of the benefit; and that under the circumstances, it would be inequitable for Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical to retain the benefit without compensating the estate.
Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical had also alleged that the case should be tossed because the estate waited too long to file suit. The estate had alleged, however, that Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical couldn’t invoke the statute of limitations because it was an out-of-state corporation that failed to register to do business in Maryland. That means that the company can’t rely on a statute-of-limitations defense at the motion-to-dismiss stage, Boardman said.
Two lawyers for the estate, Seeger Weiss partners Christopher Seeger and Christopher Ayers, forwarded this statement to the ABA Journal: “For too long, pharmaceutical companies like Ultragenyx have profited from Henrietta Lacks’ cells taken without her knowledge or consent, reaping enormous profits while her family received nothing. We applaud Judge Boardman’s historic ruling, which allows our unjust enrichment claims to proceed and acknowledges the deep injustices that Henrietta Lacks and her family have endured. This case is about more than financial restitution; it is about restoring dignity to Henrietta Lacks, delivering long overdue justice, and preventing such exploitation from happening again.”
Reuters and Bloomberg Law are among the publications with coverage of the decision.
The family also sued Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. for its use of HeLa cells. The case settled last year.
