Henrietta Lacks & HeLa Cells

Novartis has reached a confidential settlement with the estate of Henrietta Lacks, ending a 2024 federal lawsuit in Maryland that accused the drugmaker of unjustly profiting from the HeLa cell line grown from her tumor without consent in 1951. The suit sought the "full amount" of Novartis’ net profits from commercializing HeLa cells, which became the first immortal human cell line and underpinned breakthroughs from the polio vaccine to COVID‑19 shots. This is at least the second such settlement, following a 2023 deal with Thermo Fisher Scientific, and similar cases against Ultragenyx and Viatris remain active, with the family’s lawyers signaling more complaints could come. The article recounts how Johns Hopkins physicians took Lacks’ cervical tumor cells without her knowledge, how the cells were shared widely across industry, and how her descendants—some long uninsured—received nothing while companies patented HeLa‑based products. The resolution deepens a broader reckoning over racial exploitation in U.S. medical research and adds pressure on other firms that have profited from HeLa to negotiate or face litigation.