On Wednesday, Frank Yiannas, FDA's deputy commissioner for the office of food policy and response, said he plans to step down next month, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from California, Maryland, and Texas.

• California: Judge William B. Shubb of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California on Wednesday temporarily blocked the enforcement of a state law that allows regulators to penalize doctors who spread false or misleading information about the COVID-19 vaccine and treatments. Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed the law, which was intended to combat misinformation that has been circulating throughout the pandemic. While the language in the law was narrow, Shubb ruled that the law's definitions of misinformation and the lack of clarity about its enforcement were "unconstitutionally vague." (Myers, New York Times, 1/26)

• Maryland: On Wednesday, Frank Yiannas said he plans to step down from his role as FDA's deputy commissioner for the office of food policy and response next month—an announcement that comes less than two months after an independent group recommended an overhaul of the agency. In a letter to FDA Commissioner Robert Califf, Yiannas said he was resigning because of shortcomings in the agency's response to foodborne illness crises, including the baby formula shortage last year. "The decentralized structure of the foods program that you and I both inherited significantly impaired FDA's ability to operate as an integrated food team and protect the public," Yiannas said. In addition, Yiannas recommended that Califf restructure the agency to include "a fully empowered and experienced Deputy Commissioner for Foods, with direct oversight of those centers and offices responsible for human and animal foods." (Reiley/Bogage, Washington Post, 1/25)

• Texas: In mid-stage study results released Tuesday for Cassava Sciences' experimental Alzheimer's drug, simufilam, trial patients exhibited a decline in cognitive status that suggests the treatment is no more effective than a placebo. Notably, the company previously claimed that the drug could improve the cognition of patients. However, Cassava's latest update showed an average decline of 0.5 points on a 70-point cognition scale known as Adas-cog among 200 patients with Alzheimer's being treated with simufilam for one year. "Adas-cog results that change minimally (or improve) over one year is a highly desirable outcome in a clinical study of mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease," Cassava said. (Feuerstein, STAT+, 1/24 [subscription required])