WHO Honors Henrie a Lacks for "Incalculable" Medical Breakthroughs

WHO Honors Henrietta Lacks for "Incalculable" Medical Breakthroughs

By Li Cohen

▲ henrietta-lacks-family-photo-national-▲ h ittl kf il ht ti l institute-of-health.jp © Credit: CBSNews ► Henrietta Lacks / Credit: National Institutes

of Health © Provided by CBS News

THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION

(WHO) on Wednesday, October 13th, awarded a posthumous award to Henrietta Lacks, a Black woman who unknowingly had her body's cells biopsied while undergoing cancer treatment — and ultimately helped change medical history.

The cells that were taken from Lacks' tumor, called HeLa cells, were the fi rst human cells to be successfully cloned, and have since been infi nitely reproduced. Those cells, WHO said in

a statement, "have allowed for incalculable scientifi c breakthroughs" related to the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, polio vaccine, drugs for HIV and cancers, COVID-19 research,

and even the eff ects of zero gravity.

WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom

Ghebreyesus bestowed the award, saying it's important for the organization to acknowledge her nonconsensual, but critical, contribution to modern medicine. For years, WHO said, Lacks' race and story were hidden by the global scientifi c community. "In honoring Henrietta Lacks, WHO acknowledges the importance of reckoning with past scientifi c injustices, and advancing racial equity in health and science," the Director-General said. "It's also an opportunity to recognize women - particularly women of color - who have made incredible but often unseen contributions to medical science."

Lawrence Lacks, one of Henrietta Lacks' fi ve children, received the WHO's award on her behalf Wednesday. "My mother's contributions, once hidden, are now being rightfully honored for their global impact,"

Henrietta Lacks from page 47

the 87-year-old said. "My mother was a pioneer in life, giving back to her community, helping others live a better life and caring for others. In death she continues to help the world. Her legacy lives on in us and we thank you for saying her name."

Lacks was a mother of fi ve when she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. The cells taken from Lacks' body, WHO said, have been "mass produced, for profi t, without recognition to her family." More than 50 million metric tons of HeLa cells have been distributed globally, and have been the subject of more than 75,000 studies.

Johns Hopkins researcher Dr. George Gey obtained Lacks' cells in 1951. Johns Hopkins says on its website that the entity has "never sold or profi ted from the discovery or distribution of HeLa cells and does not own the rights to the HeLa cell line." Rather, Johns Hopkins says, it off ers the cells "freely and widely for scientifi c research."

Earlier this month, on the 70th anniversary of Lacks' death, her family sued biotechnology company Thermo Fisher Scientifi c Inc. for selling her cells, saying it was part of a "racially unjust medical system." The family has requested that the company tell Lacks' family the full amount of its net profi ts it obtained from selling HeLa cells. "Thermo Fisher Scientifi c has known that HeLa cells were stolen from Ms. Lacks and chose to use her body for profi t anyway," the lawsuit says, adding that white doctors at Johns Hopkins in the 1950s, where Lacks underwent treatment, preyed on Black women with cervical cancer. "The exploitation of Henrietta Lacks represents the unfortunately common struggle experienced by Black people throughout history," the suit says. "Indeed, Black suff ering has fueled innumerable medical progress and profi t, without just compensation or recognition. Various studies, both documented and undocumented, have thrived off the dehumanization of Black people."

Among the lawyers for the family's estate is civil rights attorney Ben Crump. "We want to make sure that the family voice is fi nally heard after 70 years of being ignored," Crump told CBSN. "The American pharmaceutical corporations have a shameful history of profi ting off the research of using and exploiting Black people and their illnesses and their bodies." www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/who-honors-henriettalacks-for-incalculable-medical-breakthroughs/arAAPw38H?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=W069 www.who.int/news/item/13-10-2021-whodirector-general-bestows-posthumous-awardon-the-late-henrietta-lacks#:~:text=The%20 award%20was%20received%20at%20the%20 WHO%20offi ce,Lacks%E2%80%99%20 grandchildren%2C%20great-grand%20 children%2C%20and%20other%20family%20 members www.amazon.com/Immortal-Life-Henrietta-Lacks/ dp/1400052181

MODERNA PLANS TO INVEST up to $500 million to build a factory in Africa to make up to

500 million doses of mRNA vaccines each year,

including its COVID-19 shot, as pressure grows on the pharmaceutical industry to manufacture drugs on the continent.

African countries and the World Health Organization (WHO) have been urging drugmakers for months to set up vaccine plants on the continent to help it secure supplies of COVID-19 shots that have been hoovered up by wealthier nations.

As of Thursday, October 21st, only about 4.5% of Africans had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the continent's top public health offi cial, John Nkengasong.

Moderna's (MRNA.O) proposed site is expected to include drug substance manufacturing as well as bottling and packaging capabilities. The U.S. drugmaker said it would begin the process of deciding the country and location soon. "We expect to manufacture our COVID-19 vaccine as well as additional products within our mRNA vaccine portfolio at this facility," CEO Stephane Bancel said in a statement.

Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, said he had not seen the Moderna statement and the company had not consulted with him.

At a news conference, he welcomed any eff orts to address the continent's medium- to long-term needs, but said Moderna's plans would not

solve its problems securing COVID-19 vaccine

doses now.

Bartholomew Akanmori, a vaccine regulation offi cer at the WHO's Africa offi ce, said the WHO hoped Moderna's plant would help with diseases of public health interest other than COVID-19 and which had not yet received research and development support.

Moderna Plans African Vaccine Moderna's move comes as a debate rages between drugmakers and Plant as Drugmakers Urged to governments about waiving intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines Help Poorest to help end the pandemic and give more developing countries access to shots.

By Josephine Mason and Maggie Fick read more

The United States said it would support a waiver, but the idea has faced opposition from pharmaceutical fi rms, which argue they need to oversee any technology transfer due to the complexity of the manufacturing process.

Potential Sites

Potential candidates to host Moderna's African plant include South Africa, Rwanda and Senegal, health experts say, although a senior South African offi cial involved in a drive to boost local vaccine manufacturing said he wasn't aware of the Moderna announcement. South Africa's health department didn't respond to a request for comment. Pfi zer (PFE.N) and its partner BioNTech (22UAy. DE), struck a deal in July for South Africa's Biovac to help make around 100 million doses a year of their COVID-19 vaccine for Africa. BioNTech said in August that it was looking into building malaria and tuberculosis vaccine production sites using mRNA technology in Rwanda and Senegal. read

more

The WHO has been trying to persuade Moderna and Pfi zer-BioNTech to join forces with its plan for an African tech transfer hub. But a senior WHO offi cial told Reuters last month there hadn't been much progress in talks with Moderna. read more Nkengasong said he hoped Moderna would work with an initiative called the Partnerships for African Vaccine Manufacturing launched this year which looks at Africa's needs at a continental level. "Ten countries in Africa have expressed an interest in vaccine manufacturing, (we) can actually bring them all together and put Moderna at the centre of that. ... That would really speak to the need to be transparent and also ... coordinate our eff orts," he said. www.reuters.com/world/africa/moderna-plansmrna-vaccine-factory-africa-2021-10-07 Image credits: Unoffi cial Networks