A new Lyme disease vaccine from Pfizer and Valneva, which is entering late-stage trials, could become the first federally approved Lyme disease inoculation in 20 years, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from California, Indiana, and New York.

• California: Doctors Medical Center on Monday announced that Jay Krishnaswamy will return to serve as the hospital's CEO. Krishnaswamy, who brings over 20 years of health care administration experience to the role, will oversee the operations of Doctors Medical and lead the executive planning and directing of medical services. Krishnaswamy succeeds Warren Kirk, who will continue serving as the CEO of Tenet Healthcare's Northern California Group. "Jay has extensive experience in healthcare administration and has been with Tenet Healthcare for 20 years. With our hospital's expertise in providing a higher level of care for our patients, Jay will be working closely with our sister hospitals to help us broaden the care we provide as a market," Kirk said. "We look forward to continuing to grow within our community and expanding the services we provide." (Ray, HealthLeaders Media, 8/8)

• Indiana: Eli Lilly on Saturday announced its plans to grow its workforce outside of Indiana after Gov. Eric Holcomb (R) signed legislation that will ban abortion except in cases of rape or incest within the first 10 weeks of pregnancy, when the pregnancy threatens the life and physical health of the mother, or if the fetus is diagnosed with a deadly condition. In addition, the legislation will prohibit any facility other than hospitals from performing abortions. Eli Lilly said abortion is a sensitive subject, adding that there is "no clear consensus among the citizens of Indiana." "Despite this lack of agreement, Indiana has opted to quickly adopt one of the most restrictive anti-abortion laws in the United States. We are concerned that this law will hinder Lilly's – and Indiana's – ability to attract diverse scientific, engineering and business talent from around the world," the company added. (Vella, The Hill, 8/6)

• New York: Pfizer and Valneva on Monday announced that they are enlisting 6,000 people in a late-stage clinical trial to test a vaccine designed to provide protection against Lyme disease. According to the drugmakers, the study will be conducted across as many as 50 sites where the disease is "highly endemic," including Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, and the United States. Trial participants will receive three doses of the VLA15 vaccine candidate, or three doses of a placebo, followed by a single booster dose or an additional placebo. If the vaccine is successfully developed, it would become the first Lyme disease vaccine to receive federal approval in the United States since 2002. "With increasing global rates of Lyme disease, providing a new option for people to help protect themselves from the disease is more important," said Annaliesa Anderson, the head of vaccine development at Pfizer. (Jeong, Washington Post, 8/9)