Novartis Settles With Estate of Henrietta Lacks Over Stolen Cervical Cancer Cells

Novartis has reached a settlement with the estate of Henrietta Lacks over the use of the HeLa cell line, a line of human cells derived from tissue removed from Lacks during medical treatment for cervical cancer without her knowledge or consent. Terms of the settlement were not publicly disclosed.¹

The settlement resolves claims that pharmaceutical companies used the HeLa cell line in research and commercial drug development despite the cells having been derived from tissue taken from Henrietta Lacks without consent or compensation.² This is the second settlement in lawsuits brought by the Lacks family. A 2023 lawsuit was settled with the biotechnology company Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. Other lawsuits filed by the family remain active.³

Origin of the HeLa Cell Line

Henrietta Lacks was treated for cervical cancer at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore in 1951. During treatment, physicians removed samples of cancerous tissue from her cervix without her knowledge or consent.⁴

Researchers later discovered that the cells possessed a rare biological characteristic. Unlike most human cells grown in laboratories, the cells continued dividing indefinitely under laboratory conditions. The cell line became known as “HeLa,” using the first two letters of her first and last name. HeLa cells later became one of the most widely used tools in biomedical research and have contributed to the development of vaccines including the polio vaccine, cancer treatments, gene mapping research, and other biomedical research.⁵

Claims Brought by the Henrietta Lacks Estate

The Complaint states that the multibillion-dollar pharmaceutical company knowingly commercialized from the living genetic material of Henrietta Lacks, a black woman, without consent or compensation. Novartis currently holds hundreds of patents developed by using the HeLa cell line. The exploitation of Henrietta Lacks without just compensation led to the pharmaceutical giant creating and patenting new drugs that led to enormous profits.⁶

The Novartis website acknowledges the surreptitious taking of Lacks’ cells…

… the story of Henrietta Lacks, whose cervical cancer cells were surreptitiously commercialized for research purposes without her knowledge.⁷

The Complaint sets forth that physicians were instructed by the chair of gynecology at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Richard Wesley TeLinde, to take tissue samples from black patients suffering from cervical cancer without their knowledge or consent. TeLinde was known for the controversial practice of removing the cervix, uterus together with substantial parts of the vagina in cervical cancer patients. In order to justify this extremely invasive surgery, TeLinde along with Dr. George Gey sought to take samples of cervical cancer to conduct research and try to cultivate the cancerous cells in a form that would survive in a laboratory. The complaint sets forth that this was yet another example of white physicians exploiting black patients to conduct research.⁸

After Lacks passed away, her cells were distributed to scientists all over the world for free to use in studies. The Complaint alleges that it was commonly known in the scientific community that the HeLa cells derived from Johns Hopkins unconsented to medical experimentation on black patients.⁹

The Lacks estate alleged that the multinational pharmaceutical company was unjustly enriched at the expense of Henrietta Lacks. The Complaint asks that that as a conscious wrongdoer, Novartis be liable to the Lacks Estate for its unjust profits and permanently be enjoined from using the HeLa cell line without the permission of the Lack’s family.¹⁰

Settlement With Novartis

Novartis confirmed that it reached an agreement with the Lacks estate to resolve the dispute concerning its use of the HeLa cell line. The pharmaceutical giant stated that the settlement resolves the claims without further litigation. Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.¹¹

Representatives for the Lacks estate have stated that the litigation seeks recognition of the family’s role in the history of biomedical research and accountability from companies that used the cells commercially.¹²

Debate Over Consent and Biological Materials

During the mid-twentieth century, physicians and researchers frequently used tissue samples obtained during medical treatment in laboratory research without obtaining specific consent from patients for those research uses.¹³ In the decades since the discovery of the HeLa cells, federal regulations governing research ethics and informed consent have expanded, including the development of federal human-subjects protections and ethical guidelines such as the Belmont Report.¹⁴

The case of Henrietta Lacks is frequently referenced in debates concerning patient consent, ownership of biological materials, and the commercialization of research involving human tissue.¹⁵

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