Texas revises CPRIT, moratorium continues

Texas Governor Rick Perry signed into state law a bill making a number of changes to the legislation that created the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, including the dissolution of CPRIT's current governing oversight committee. The bill also strengthens conflict-of-interest and reporting requirements for the peer review process, and requires CPRIT's CEO to submit to the oversight committee a written affidavit for each grant award recommendation that details its peer review process.

CPRIT has come under fire last year after former CSO Alfred Gilman resigned and publicly complained to the general media that CPRIT's management was interfering in the scientific review process. In December, CPRIT agreed to a moratorium on new grants to address the concerns (see BioCentury Extra, Dec. 21, 2012). ...