This week, Novartis, a huge Pharmaceutical company, and the family of Henrietta Lacks have come to settle their lawsuit.
For the Lacks family, this will score them their second settlement within three years, with Thermo Fischer Scientific being their first win against a major biotechnology company back in 2023. In that case, the family’s attorneys said the company kept profiting from the HeLa cell line after its origins were widely known to the public, unfairly benefiting from Henrietta Lacks cells.
Despite the power pharmaceutical corporations have in medical and scientific progress, it is a testament that the Lacks family won these settlements. It has brought to the forefront questions about ownership, consent, and who benefits from research. The outcomes of her family’s actions mark a step towards accountability. In addition, they challenge scientists and institutions to pursue innovation with transparency and respect for the people behind the science
Story of Henrietta Lacks
In 1951, Henrietta Lacks visited John Hopkins Hospital for an examination during which they found a large tumor on her cervix. At this time John Hopkins Hospital was one of the few to treat poor African Americans. Mrs.Lacks went through multiple radium treatments for her cervical cancer. This was the most advanced option for the disease at the time.
During the biopsy, doctors collected a sample of her tumor and sent it to a nearby tissue lab run by Geogre Gey. Years later, the well-known cancer and virus researcher had routinely gathered cells from patients as part of his ongoing work.
Doctors took and harvested the cancerous cells during her treatment without Henrietta Lacks’ consent or knowledge. At the time, the practice was legal. HeLa cells later played a major role in medical research, contributing to the development of vaccines for polio, COVID, advancing treatments for cancers and Parkinsons disease.
John Hopkins denies contributing to any wrongdoing in this, but they are aware and have noted the impact that the HeLa Cells are among the most important scientific discoveries in history.
How HeLa Cells Changed Modern Medicine
Thanks to the continued fight of the Lacks family, they have highlighted the injustices that occur in medicine. More specifically, her family has raised awareness on the dehumanization of Black lives through unfair research practices.
Similar to Lack’s story, injustices such as the 1932 Tuskegee Syphilis Study involving Black men whose treatment was withheld are another great example of dehumanization. The Syphilis Study contributed to marginalized communities having a long-standing skepticism about medical institutions.
The first immortal cell line in history was the HeLa Cells, and what’s incredible about them is their infinite reproduction in labs. Researchers use them to study viruses in cancer cells and test the effects of drugs, toxins and hormones without relying on human experimentation.
Her cells still play an instrumental scientific role today, even though Mrs.Lacks passed away 74 years ago.
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