Henrietta Lacks' Estate Reaches Confidential Settlement With Novartis Over Unjust Enrichment

The estate of Henrietta Lacks reached a confidential settlement with Novartis Pharmaceuticals in February 2026, ending an unjust‑enrichment lawsuit filed in August 2024 in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. Court filings and the parties’ joint statement said the agreement resolves the claim that Novartis profited from research using the HeLa cell line, but they declined to disclose any financial terms.

In a joint statement issued by members of the family of Henrietta Lacks and Novartis, the parties said, "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' Estate outside of court." The statement added that the parties were not commenting further, and court entries have not disclosed the settlement amount or other specific terms.

The dispute traces back to cells taken from Henrietta Lacks at Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1951, when she was treated for cervical cancer and was 31 years old. The estate’s complaint described those cells as having been taken without her consent and said the HeLa line became foundational to decades of biomedical research. The estate’s August 2024 filing sought disgorgement of profits, asking for "the full amount of its net profits obtained by commercializing the HeLa cell line," and characterized the original material as cultivated from "stolen cells."

This settlement follows an earlier agreement the estate reached with Thermo Fisher Scientific in August 2023 and comes amid ongoing litigation with other companies. The estate filed suit against Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical shortly after the Thermo Fisher settlement and alleged that Ultragenyx used Lacks’ cells as a "factory" to make gene therapy products and made a "fortune." Litigation with Ultragenyx resumed in mid‑February 2026 after settlement talks failed. The August 2024 complaint named Novartis and, in filings, also included Viatris as a defendant; claims against Viatris and Ultragenyx remain active.

Representatives associated with the estate in recent years include Ron L. Sacks, identified by the estate as one of Henrietta Lacks’ grandsons and a legal representative, and civil‑rights attorney Ben Crump, whose firm issued the joint statement with Novartis. Photographs from past court appearances show Crump with family members outside the federal courthouse in Baltimore, and the family has pursued a series of claims framed by the era in which consent was not required for tissue harvesting and by broader racial and ethical questions in American medicine.

The Novartis settlement allows the company to exit the Maryland federal lawsuit that had sought a jury trial and full profits. With Thermo Fisher already settled and Ultragenyx and Viatris still in litigation, the family has indicated its campaign to seek remedies could continue; attorneys have said additional complaints are possible. For Baltimore, where Johns Hopkins cared for Henrietta Lacks and where the federal case was heard, the resolution closes one courtroom chapter while several related cases remain active.