The family of Henrietta Lacks, the black woman whose cervical cells were harvested in 1951 without her knowledge and have been replicated infinitely ever since, has reached a settlement with a second biotech company, reports the BBC.
Novartis had been accused of profiting from cells removed from Lack without consent but which have since enabled huge advances in medical science.
Her family, which never received any compensation, has fought for years to get justice for the “stolen” cells.
Nearly three years ago, they settled with another biotech company, Massachusetts-based Thermo Fisher Scientific, for undisclosed terms.
Lacks, a 31-year-old mother from Baltimore, Maryland, began experiencing pain in her abdomen and abnormal bleeding in 1951. Gynaecologists at Johns Hopkins Hospital who examined her discovered a large mass on her cervix.
Without informing her or asking for permission, doctors sent a sample of her tumour to a lab for medical research before treating her for aggressive cervical cancer.
But while nearly all cell cultures died quickly in the lab, those taken from Lacks continued to multiply and didn’t age, making them “immortal”. This meant that scientists all over the world could replicate experiments using identical cells.
The cell line, called “HeLa” after her first and last name, was sent to research labs worldwide. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), HeLa cells have led to the creation of the polio vaccine and advancements in HIV, cancer and infertility research.
But the same properties that made the cells a scientific miracle also made them lethal. Months after her diagnosis, Lack died from cancer at just 31 and was buried in an unmarked grave.
Seventy years after her death, her family filed a lawsuit against Novartis in the state of Maryland. Several other lawsuits against other drug companies remain ongoing.
The details of the latest settlement have not been disclosed.
“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 court,” said a joint statement. “The terms of the agreement are confidential.”
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New lawsuits over ‘HeLa’ cell misuse claims