*Pharmaceutical giant Novartis has agreed to settle a legal dispute brought by the estate of Henrietta Lacks, a case built on allegations that the company built profits on a foundation of medical exploitation dating back to the early 1950s. According to The Associated Press, the agreement was finalized in federal court in Maryland, though financial terms remain confidential.
In a joint statement, both parties said they are “pleased they were able to find a way to resolve this matter filed by Henrietta Lacks’ Estate outside of court,” declining to elaborate further. The 2024 lawsuit had sought from Novartis “the full amount of its net profits obtained by commercializing the HeLa cell line,” which the complaint described as having been cultivated from “stolen cells.”
Lacks died at the age of 31 from an aggressive case of cervical cancer. Before her death 70 years ago, doctors from Johns Hopkins Hospital took samples of her cancerous cells and gave them to researchers without her or her family members’ knowledge or consent. Those cells, known as HeLa cells, went on to become one of the most significant tools in modern science, contributing to breakthroughs including the polio vaccine, genetic mapping, and COVID-19 vaccines.
The Novartis settlement is the second the Lacks estate has secured in its ongoing legal campaign. In 2023, the family reached an undisclosed agreement with Thermo Fisher Scientific after attorneys argued the biotechnology company knowingly continued to sell and mass-produce HeLa cells long after it became widely understood that Lacks’ tissue had been removed from her body without her consent.
Lawyers for the estate, including prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump, contended that Thermo Fisher Scientific made a deliberate choice to commercialize her cells despite being fully aware of the circumstances under which they were originally obtained from Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Lawsuits against Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical and Viatris are still active, and attorneys for the family have signaled that further legal action may be coming.
MORE NEWS ON EURWEB.COM: Family of Henrietta Lacks Wins Lawsuit Against Biotech Company
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