Doctors took Henrietta Lacks's cells without her knowledge in 1951, and her estate has settled with Thermo Fisher and Novartis

In 1951 doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital took cells from Henrietta Lacks's cervical tumour without her knowledge. They became the first human cells to grow continuously in laboratory dishes, the HeLa line. Lacks died of cervical cancer at 31 and was buried in an unmarked grave. She left a husband and five children. HeLa cells were used to develop the polio vaccine, for genetic mapping and for COVID-19 vaccines. Johns Hopkins says it never sold or profited from them. Companies patented ways of using them. Some of her descendants had chronic illnesses and no health insurance. Represented by the lawyer Ben Crump, her estate sued Thermo Fisher Scientific in Baltimore federal court for unjust enrichment, and the family stood outside the courthouse on 4 October 2021. In 2023 Thermo Fisher settled on undisclosed terms. Just over a week later the estate sued Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical. In August 2024 it sued Novartis and Viatris in Baltimore federal court, seeking the companies' net profits from what the complaint called "stolen cells". The Novartis settlement was finalised in federal court in Maryland in February 2026; its terms are not public. The suits against Viatris and Ultragenyx are pending. The family's lawyers have said more complaints may follow.