TMO - Ultragenyx Faces Lawsuit Over Alleged Unjust Use of Henrietta Lacks' Cells | Benzinga
The estate of Henrietta Lacks can proceed with a lawsuit against Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical (NASDAQ:RARE) over the use of cells taken from Lacks’ body in the 1950s, as ruled by a Maryland federal court on Monday.
U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman rejected Ultragenyx’s motion to dismiss the case, determining that the estate had plausibly claimed that Ultragenyx wrongly profited from its research using the “immortal” HeLa cell line.
The HeLa cells, extracted from Lacks’ cervix without her knowledge during a cancer-treatment procedure at a Baltimore hospital in 1951, became the first to survive and reproduce indefinitely under lab conditions.
Reuters notes that these cells have been instrumental ...