Texas Cancer Agency Marred By Criminal Probe

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/15/texas-cancer-agency-_n_2307946.html



Governor Goodhair

Texas Cancer Agency Marred By Criminal Probe
By PAUL J. WEBER 12/15/12 02:33 PM ET EST AP

AUSTIN, Texas -- Texas put up $3 billion in taxpayer money and promised cancer breakthroughs. But a criminal investigation, widespread rebuke from scientists and the resignations of embattled state officials came faster than medical discoveries.

The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas launched in 2009, flaunting the second-biggest trough of cancer research dollars in the country. Nobel laureates eagerly took jobs with the agency and celebrity Lance Armstrong lent visible and then-coveted support. It was an unprecedented state-run battle against a worldwide killer.

Three years later, it's become unhinged by suggestions of politics and personal profit and is on the ropes.

"People expected that we get some good results. Not that we make people rich in private companies doing cancer research," said Cathy Bonner, a cancer survivor who was a close aide to former Texas Gov. Ann Richards, and who helped brainstorm the idea for CPRIT. "I can't imagine anything lower than misuse of research money that's meant to save people's lives."