Law groups, pro­fes­sors lash out against Ther­mo Fish­er in suit over the 'im­mor­tal cell­s' of Hen­ri­et­ta Lacks

It’s been decades since med­ical re­searchers at Johns Hop­kins un­eth­i­cal­ly took tis­sue sam­ples from Hen­ri­et­ta Lacks and used them to cre­ate the world’s first known “im­mor­tal” cell line.

Now, Ther­mo Fish­er is look­ing to evade a law­suit claim­ing it con­tin­ues to prof­it from the cells with­out per­mis­sion from Lacks’ es­tate. Lacks’ fam­i­ly says it “hasn’t seen a dime,” but new briefs filed by a suite of law groups and le­gal pro­fes­sors could help change that.

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