Settled cells

After 75 years, a court settlement ruled that Novartis must re-evaluate Henrietta Lacks’ family because their research profited from the cells taken from her without her knowledge in 1951. Lacks died on October 4, 1951, at the age of 31, without recognition, but her cells changed the future of medicine forever. The compensation of the Lack’s family is confidential and not posted. Henrietta Lacks was the first human whose cells, named the HeLa cells, could continuously grow and multiply. These cells are still a major factor in the construction of many vaccines. “HeLa” is short for her name.

However, doctors and pharmaceutical companies have failed to give credit to her, and the staff of John Hopkins Hospital exploited Lacks by taking her cancerous cells without consent. Though many medical advancements, such as the creation of the polio and COVID vaccines, her family is reaping absolutely nothing from the research done with the HeLa cells. While the intentions were noble by questing for knowledge to better cancer treatments, John Hopkins Hospital refused to take accountability for its actions.

The Henrietta Lacks Foundation was created in 2010 by Rebecca Skloott, author of “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.” The foundation intends to help those whose cells were taken without consent.