The family of Henrietta Lacks has settled a lawsuit against Novartis. File Photo courtesy of Novartis
The family of Henrietta Lacks, whose cells were taken without her consent as she battled cervical cancer, settled a lawsuit with Novartis.
Lacks, who was just 31 when died in 1951 and buried in an unmarked grave, was receiving treatment in a Johns Hopkins Hospital segregated ward when her cells were harvested without her knowledge.
Her cells have since led to vaccines for polio, Covid-19 and HPV, as well as HIV/Aids, leukemia, Parkinson’s and flu treatments.
“To the modern researcher, the fact that cells were taken and established into an immortalized, forever-growing cell line from a patient that didn’t know that happened is astounding,” Harvard Medical School associate professor Cigall Kadoch told the Boston Globe.
Her family filed a lawsuit against the Switzerland-based pharmaceutical company in August, alleging that the company had used her cells for profit.
“Novartis never sought or received permission from the estate of Henrietta Lacks to use her cells, treating them as mere tools or resources,” the lawsuit said, The New York Times reported.
Novartis and the Lacks family confirmed the settlement, which was “confidential,” per the statements announcing the agreement.
“For the family and her grandchildren, this is certainly justice because people said they would never realize any benefit or compensation from her immortal HeLa cells, even though these pharmaceutical companies were profiting billions and billions of dollars,” said the family’s lawyer, Ben Crump, per the outlet.
Lacks was the subject of a 2010 book penned by Rebecca Skloot.
