Hen­ri­et­ta Lack­s' fam­i­ly sues Ul­tragenyx over use of im­mor­tal HeLa cell line, claim­ing un­just en­rich­ment

The fam­i­ly of Hen­ri­et­ta Lacks has sued again over the use of her im­mor­tal cell line, this time go­ing af­ter Ul­tragenyx in Mary­land Dis­trict Court, al­leg­ing that its “com­pet­i­tive ad­van­tage” in gene ther­a­py is the “theft” of Lacks’ cells.

The es­tate said in court doc­u­ments filed Thurs­day that the com­pa­ny’s “ill-got­ten gains” be­long to the Lacks’ es­tate and that it wants the court to stop Ul­tragenyx from us­ing her cell line with­out the es­tate’s per­mis­sion. Ac­cus­ing Ul­tragenyx of un­just en­rich­ment, the es­tate is al­so ask­ing to be award­ed the mon­ey the com­pa­ny has made from us­ing the line.

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