{"id":41891,"date":"2026-03-30T21:54:35","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T21:54:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/41891\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:54:35","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T21:54:35","slug":"novartis-and-henrietta-lacks-family-reach-a-settlement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/41891\/","title":{"rendered":"Novartis And Henrietta Lacks\u2019 Family Reach A Settlement"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this week\u2019s edition of InnovationRx, we look at the settlement between Novartis and the family of Henrietta Lacks, the startup that wants to treat Alzheimer\u2019s with microrobots, medical groups push back on RFK Jr.\u2019s vaccine changes and more. To get it in your inbox, subscribe here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Descendants of Henrietta Lacks, whose cells, known as HeLa cells, have been used in medical research without her permission, say a prayer with attorneys outside the federal courthouse in Baltimore in 2021.<\/p>\n

The Associated Press<\/p>\n

Pharmaceutical giant Novartis settled a lawsuit with the estate of Henrietta Lacks<\/a> over allegations that it unjustly profited off her cancer cells. Lacks, a Black woman whose doctors took cells from a cancerous tumor in her cervix without her knowledge, died in 1951 at the age of 31. The story of Lacks, whose cells subsequently contributed to scientific breakthroughs while her family struggled with poverty, was detailed in the best-selling 2010 book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Details of the settlement agreement, finalized in federal court in Maryland, were not made public. It follows an earlier agreement with Thermo Fisher Scientific<\/a> three years ago. Taken together, the two settlements represent something of a reckoning by the medical establishment with the field\u2019s historic racism and the harm that can be done in the name of scientific progress.<\/p>\n

Lacks\u2019 doctors had harvested cancerous cells while she was receiving treatment, without her knowledge or permission, a practice that was legal at the time. Those cells, called HeLa cells, were subsequently used in medical research that led to the development of vaccines for polio and Covid-19 and treatments for cancer and Parkinson\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n

This Startup Wants to Use Mini Robots To Treat Alzheimer\u2019s<\/p>\n

Mark Toland, MMI’s chief executive<\/p>\n

MMI<\/p>\n

For the past few months, neurosurgeons at hospitals in Florida, Connecticut and New York have been preparing for a wildly experimental operation designed to treat Alzheimer’s disease, the dementia that leads to devastating memory loss. The surgery, which they’ve been practicing on cadavers, aims to clear the drainage pathways to the brain. This could help patients’ own lymphatic systems flush out toxins that scientists believe are the hallmarks of the disease, which affects 7 million people in the U.S. alone. <\/p>\n

To do so, they’re turning to the smallest surgical robotic instruments in the world that can hold tiny needles the size of eyelashes, with scissors and dilators roughly the width of a human hair. The lymph vessels in the neck that surgeons would operate on for the Alzheimer\u2019s procedure can be as little as 0.2 millimeters in diameter, the equivalent thickness of two sheets of paper. \u201cIt\u2019s like taking a couple of strands of your hair and tying them together with little bitty sutures,\u201d says Mark Toland, CEO of Jacksonville, Florida-based startup MMI, which makes the microrobots. <\/p>\n

They aim to perform the first of these microrobotic surgeries on five people in March. While a very early-stage clinical study, it builds off reports from some 5,000 experimental surgeries performed in China and other Asian countries over the past five years that help the lymphatic system clear out build-up in the brain. They’ve shown remarkable, if largely anecdotal, results. Surgeons were not only able to slow the disease\u2019s progression \u2014 they took patients with moderate Alzheimer\u2019s back to a more mild stage of the disease, Toland says.<\/p>\n

In November, MMI, which has raised some $220 million in venture funding at a valuation around $500 million, got the okay from the FDA to proceed with the trials, with the goal of first showing the procedure is safe in 15 people. If the initial trial is successful, Toland hopes to start enrolling 200 to 300 patients in a large-scale clinical trial later this year. With luck, he believes the startup could receive approval for the use of its microrobots to treat Alzheimer\u2019s by the end of 2027.<\/p>\n

It sounds pretty crazy. But MMI\u2019s clinical trials build off a relatively new body of scientific research on the brain\u2019s waste removal system that may yield new hope for sufferers of the disease and their families. \u201cNobody is going to adopt this procedure based on information coming out of China or even Korea,\u201d Toland says. \u201cBut if we establish a foundation of research in the United States, it\u2019s a game changer for the whole world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read the full story here.<\/a><\/p>\n

RFK Taps New Vaccine Advisors As Childhood Infectious Diseases Spread<\/p>\n

Last week, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. named two new members<\/a> to the CDC\u2019s Advisory Committee on Vaccine Practices (ACIP), which sets recommendations for vaccine schedules. They are Sean Downing, a concierge physician in Florida who was a donor to Kennedy\u2019s presidential campaign; and Angelina Farella, a pediatrician who has a history of spreading misinformation<\/a> about vaccines and treatments against COVID-19. <\/p>\n

ACIP was originally set to meet in February but has been rescheduled for March 18 and 19. The agenda<\/a> will include discussions on \u201cinjuries\u201d allegedly caused by COVID-19 vaccines and also whether vaccination causes Long COVID, despite the fact that clinical evidence to date suggests vaccination helps prevent it<\/a>. Like many of the current members of ACIP, Downing and Farella have no experience in epidemiology, public health or vaccinology. That\u2019s been the case since Kennedy purged public health experts<\/a> from the committee last June. <\/p>\n

Kennedy\u2019s changes to the committee, as well as the recommendations it has put forth, have provoked strong opposition from medical groups, insurance companies and several state governments. Last month, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists withdrew<\/a> as a liaison organization from ACIP, saying that Kennedy\u2019s changes \u201cundermine the committee\u2019s scientific integrity and evidence-based approach to vaccine policy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the American Academy of Pediatricians and other medical societies filed suit<\/a> against Kennedy, claiming that he illegally removed ACIP members and the votes of the current committee should be rendered void. A federal judge in Massachusetts rejected<\/a> HHS\u2019s motion to dismiss the case in January, and the plaintiffs have filed for an injunction<\/a> to prevent ACIP\u2019s next meeting from taking place and to suspend its changes to childhood immunization schedules. Fifteen states have also sued<\/a> HHS to nullify the schedule changes and disband the current committee. <\/p>\n

While Kennedy\u2019s HHS continues to downplay the importance of vaccination, cases of preventable childhood diseases are rising. There have been more than 1,100 recorded measles<\/a> infections in 2026 so far\u2013about half of last year\u2019s total. Declines in vaccination rates also mean the risk is higher that other childhood diseases, such as whooping cough, meningitis and rotavirus, will make a comeback<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Deal of the Week<\/p>\n

Sunway Healthcare Holdings, a Malaysian medical care provider, kicked off its plans to raise $736 million in an IPO on Friday. The company, a unit of Malaysian billionaire Jeffrey Cheah\u2019s<\/a> Sunway group, will begin trading on Bursa Malaysia on March 18. The IPO values Sunway Healthcare at about $4.2 billion, making it the country\u2019s largest in over a decade. With the proceeds from the IPO, the company plans to expand its existing five hospitals and build three new ones. <\/p>\n

Read more here<\/a>. <\/p>\n

WHAT WE\u2019RE READING<\/p>\n

RFK Jr.\u2019s action figures and video with Kid Rock<\/a> are the latest efforts to cement a MAHA-MAGA alliance. <\/p>\n

Novo Nordisk\u2019s woes have intensified<\/a> since Maziar Mike Doustdar took over as CEO last year.<\/p>\n

A new single-pill HIV therapy<\/a> holds promise for older survivors who have been resistant to treatment.<\/p>\n

Moderna has settled<\/a> its ongoing patent litigation with Roivant and Arbutus over its COVID-19 vaccine. <\/p>\n

New studies find that healthcare AI models are much more aggressive<\/a> in prescribing opioids to historically marginalized groups, suggesting that they could perpetuate biases. <\/p>\n

A new drug for sleeping sickness promises<\/a> to simplify treatment for the deadly parasitic disease. <\/p>\n

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