The family of Henrietta Lacks has reached a confidential settlement with pharmaceutical giant Novartis, resolving a lawsuit that accused the company of profiting from the use of her cells more than 70 years after they were taken without her knowledge.
“Members of the family of Henrietta Lacks and Novartis are pleased they were able to find a way to resolve this matter filed by Henrietta Lacks’s estate outside of court,” the family and the company said in a joint statement. “The terms of the agreement are confidential.”
The lawsuit alleged unjust enrichment, arguing that Novartis used the HeLa cell line in research and development without ever compensating Lacks’ estate. The case was filed in federal court in Maryland, where Lacks was treated in 1951 for cervical cancer at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Doctors removed a sample of her tumor without informing her or seeking consent. Those cells did something no other human cells had done before. They continued to multiply, becoming the first immortal human cell line.
HeLa cells have since played a role in some of the most significant medical breakthroughs of the modern era, including development of the polio vaccine and advances in cancer treatment, HIV and AIDS research, gene mapping, cloning and in vitro fertilization. The cells have been bought and sold by the billions while Lacks herself was buried in an unmarked grave and her family often struggled to afford health care.
Nearly three years ago, the Lacks family reached a separate settlement with Thermo Fisher Scientific under undisclosed terms. Other lawsuits against biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies remain pending.
Lacks died in 1951 at age 31, months after her diagnosis. Her cells remain alive in laboratories around the world, still used in research that generates patents, products and profits.
Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who represents the Lacks estate, said the agreement with Novartis marks a turning point in a long fight for accountability.
“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,” Crump said.