VERO Biotech Inc. – an Atlanta, Georgia-based company focused on saving lives, alleviating suffering, and improving the health economics of care – was awarded the prestigious Golden Helix “Innovation Award” for its breakthrough development of the GENOSYL® Delivery System, the first advancement in the delivery of inhaled nitric oxide in 20 years, and the “Deal of the Year” Award for 2022 by Georgia Bio, the state’s life science trade association.

The state of Georgia decided to join a proposed $26 billion nationwide settlement resolving lawsuits alleging that three large drug distributors and drugmaker Johnson & Johnson fueled the deadly U.S. opioid epidemic.

Cigna

Cigna Corp. said on Aug. 26 the company would now sell health insurance plans on online marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act (ACA), popularly known as Obamacare, in three new U.S. states and 93 new counties.

At least six U.S. states, including Georgia, did not fully sign on to a proposed $26 billion settlement with three drug distributors and Johnson & Johnson – which have been accused of fueling the nation’s opioid epidemic – according to the states’ attorneys general.

One person in the U.S. state of Georgia died following a multi-state outbreak of melioidosis infection likely linked to imported products, health officials said on Aug. 9.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. said on Aug. 4 the drugstore chain had administered more than 29 million Covid-19 vaccines at its stores so far, led by a surge in parts of the United States that had lagged in vaccinations.

U.S. states are set to begin using the vaccine from Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE to inoculate young adolescents against Covid-19 after advisers to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) backed the plan in a unanimous vote on May 12.

Several U.S. states on March 25 announced broad expansions of their Covid-19 vaccine rollouts, with California opening immunizations to all adults aged 50 and older starting April 1 and Florida making anyone 40 and up eligible from March 22.

Walmart Inc. is preparing to offer Covid-19 vaccinations in seven more states, as well as in Chicago and Puerto Rico, expanding beyond the two states where the company’s pharmacists are offering inoculations.

The United States recorded more than 15,000 deaths from Covid-19 and over 1.2 million new cases for the week ended Dec. 27, though those numbers may be artificially low due to reporting gaps over the Christmas holiday.