Ultragenyx Faces Lawsuit Over Alleged Unjust Use of Henrietta Lacks' Cells

The estate of Henrietta Lacks can proceed with a lawsuit against Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical 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 in numerous medical research advancements globally.

“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,” stated the estate’s attorneys, Christopher Seeger and Christopher Ayers of Seeger Weiss in the Reuters report.

Previously, the Lacks estate had filed a lawsuit against Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. TMO for the alleged misuse of the HeLa line, which resulted in a settlement last year. 

The current lawsuit against Ultragenyx was initiated days after the Thermo Fisher settlement. The estate accused Ultragenyx of using HeLa cells “like a dairy farm treats cows” to mass-produce materials for gene therapy.

Ultragenyx defended its position by emphasizing the significant impact of HeLa cells on medical research but argued that the estate had targeted the wrong defendant under an invalid legal theory in pursuit of non-existent “huge profits.” However, Boardman denied Ultragenyx’s motion to dismiss, stating that the estate’s case was robust enough to continue.

“Ultragenyx asks this Court to find that its acquisition and use of HeLa cells is too remote from the seizure of cells from Henrietta Lacks for Lacks to state a claim for unjust enrichment,” Boardman explained. “That is not the law.”

Price Action: RARE shares are up 0.86% at $40.93 at last check Wednesday.

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