Novartis settled a lawsuit with the estate of Henrietta Lacks, who was famous for her "immortal" HeLa cells used in biomedical research[2]. Cells were taken from Henrietta Lacks' tumor without her knowledge in 1951 during treatment for cervical cancer at Johns Hopkins Hospital[2]. Lacks' estate claimed that the pharmaceutical company had wrongfully profited from these cells, which had been propagated in laboratories and made possible major medical advances, including the polio vaccine[2]. The financial terms of the settlement were not disclosed[3]. This is the second settlement in lawsuits filed by the Lacks estate—in 2023, the family agreed to a settlement with biotech company Thermo Fisher Scientific[2]. Other pharmaceutical companies, including Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical and Viatris, are still subject to litigation[2]. Henrietta Lacks, a mother of five from Virginia, died at the age of 31 and was buried in an unknown grave[3].