Ra Medical Systems announced it has settled federal and state investigations into whether the company made false marketing claims when seeking FDA clearance for its laser ablation treatment for cardiovascular and skin conditions.

A phase 2 clinical trial of Calithera Biosciences’ telaglenastat in renal cell carcinoma has missed its primary endpoint. The failure of the glutaminase inhibitor to improve progression-free survival (PFS) prompted Calithera to lay off 35% of its staff to stretch its cash reserves beyond future readouts.

Terns Pharmaceuticals has raised $87 million to fund clinical trials of its three lead nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) candidates. Deerfield Management led the round with assists from investors including Eli Lilly.

If 2020 taught us anything, it was that unexpected things happen. That said, there are some stories we’ll be watching for. Here’s a look.

Company simultaneously effected a 1-for-4 reverse stock split

The year 2020 will certainly go down in history as the year of COVID-19. And while a large portion of the biopharmaceutical world pivoted their pipelines to address the novel coronavirus, that didn’t halt a number of high profile mergers and acquisitions.

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif — Calithera Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: CALA), a clinical stage biotechnology company focused on discovering and developing novel small molecule drugs for the treatment of cancer and other life-threatening diseases, today announced that the compensation committee of the company’s board of directors granted one new employee a non-qualified stock option to purchase an aggregate of 50,000 shares of Calithera’s common stock, at a per share exercise price of $4.91, the closing trading price on December 31, 2020. One-fourth of the option vests in December 2021, and the balance of the option vests in a series of thirty-six successive equal monthly installments thereafter and was granted pursuant to the Calithera Biosciences, Inc. 2018 Inducement Plan, or Inducement Plan, which was approved by Calithera’s board of directors in January 2018 in accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4). The stock option also has a ten-year term and is subject to the terms and conditions of the Inducement Plan and the stock option agreement pursuant to which the option was granted.

Seattle-based Madrona Venture Group closed $500 million in new funds that will be used to accelerate startup tech and life science companies primarily in the Pacific Northwest.

A team co-led by a scientist at the University of California, Riverside, has developed a method to study how HIV mutates to escape the immune system in multiple individuals, which could inform HIV vaccine design.

There have been many new therapeutics and prophylactics developed over the chaotic 2020 campaign to defeat COVID-19, and many of them will outlast the pandemic and be applied to a range of other illnesses. Others are being developed in light of the fact that the world, and other diseases, have continued on in spite of it.