Novartis has settled with the estate of Henrietta Lacks over allegations that the pharmaceutical company unjustly profited from HeLa cells derived from Lacks’ tumor, a case tied to long-running disputes over consent and commercialization in biomedical research. The settlement, finalized this month in federal court in Maryland, ends the litigation between Novartis and the estate, though the terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
In a joint statement, the Lacks family and Novartis said they were “pleased they were able to find a way to resolve this matter filed by Henrietta Lacks’ Estate outside of court,” adding they would not comment further. The estate said the case stemmed from cells taken from Lacks without her knowledge in 1951 and reproduced in laboratories, where they helped enable major medical advancements.
The settlement is the second dispute resolution in lawsuits filed by the estate accusing biomedical companies of benefiting from a system the family described as racist and of taking advantage of Black patients like Lacks. The complaint in the 2024 lawsuit sought “the full amount of its net profits obtained by commercializing the HeLa cell line,” according to the AP account, and argued the HeLa cells were cultivated from “stolen cells.”
The AP report said doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital took Lacks’ cervical cells during a biopsy in 1951 without her knowledge. Those cells, which became the first human cell line known to continuously grow and reproduce in laboratory dishes, later became a cornerstone of modern medicine, enabling advances ranging from genetic mapping to the development of vaccines.
Johns Hopkins has said it never sold or profited from the cell lines, while the report said many companies nonetheless patented ways of using them. The Lacks family’s litigation said the family was not compensated for the impact the HeLa cells had on science and medicine. The case also built on earlier reporting about Lacks’ life and the later scientific impact of HeLa, including the 2010 bestseller “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot and an HBO portrayal of Lacks’ story starring Oprah Winfrey.
The AP report said the settlement with Novartis follows an earlier, undisclosed settlement in 2023 between the Lacks estate and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. In that case, the estate argued the company continued to commercialize the results long after the origins of the HeLa cell line became well known and unjustly enriched itself off Lacks’ cells. Just over a week after that Thermo Fisher settlement, attorneys for the estate filed a separate lawsuit in Baltimore federal court against Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical, in the same venue.
As of the AP report, litigation with Ultragenyx and with Viatris remained active. Attorneys for the family indicated there could be additional complaints filed, extending the estate’s legal efforts beyond the Novartis case that has now been resolved.