The family of Jesse Gelsinger reached a settlement with the University and others involved with Penn's Institute for Gene Therapy on Tuesday night. The amount of the settlement is not being released. The settlement, which was announced today, comes about six weeks after the lawsuit was filed and over a year after the teenager died while participating in a Penn gene therapy research trial. The lawsuit claimed Gelsinger's death was a direct result of negligence by Penn, IHGT Director James M. Wilson and two other scientists for the experiment in which Gelsinger was enrolled. Penn's Center for Bioethics Director Arthur Caplan and former Health System CEO William Kelley -- both originally named in the suit -- were also dismissed from the suit prior to settlement. "Penn's hope is that the agreement among the parties will enable the Gelsingers to bring a small measure of closure to the loss," the University said in a statement released today. Gelsinger family attorney Harris Pogust said the Gelsingers are pleased with the settlement. "I think we're as happy as we can be. Nothing's going to bring back Jesse," Pogust said. The suit listed six causes for action, including wrongful death, fraud, emotional distress and battery and asked for in excess of $50,000 in each count. The suit also alleged that Wilson and Kelley were positioned for financial gain from a successful outcome in the experiment because they owned several gene therapy patents.
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