The family of Henrietta Lacks has filed a federal lawsuit in Maryland against Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) and Viatris Inc (NASDAQ:VTRS), alleging the companies profited unlawfully from the use of her tissue cells, known as “HeLa” cells. The Lacks estate claims these cells, which were taken without her knowledge in the 1950s, have been crucial to the companies’ drug developments without any compensation or permission granted to her estate. Ben Crump, the Lacks family attorney, emphasized the historical exploitation of Black individuals in medical research, highlighting Lacks’ story as a stark example. The ...