State Senator Wendy Davis, a Fort Worth Democrat, wants Governor Rick Perry to go further in cleaning up CPRIT, the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas.
Perry asked the embattled agency yesterday to stop giving out grants until concerns are resolved.
He made the request after receiving a letter from Davis which called on the governor to make CPRIT an emergency item. That would allow lawmakers to consider changes immediately when they meet next month.
“Some grants have been made that are questionable. Perhaps they were made as favors, for reasons of moneymaking. I think taxpayers want us to take a very close look at how the agency is being run today,” said Davis.
CPRIT oversees the nation'ssecond-largest pot of cancer research dollars, behind the federal National Institutes of Health.
In recent months it has been plagued by concerns that grant recipients are chosen because of politics and personal profit rather than the likelihood they’ll advance cancer treatment.
