關(guān)鍵詞： 德州癌癥預(yù)防和研究中心 癌癥研究
2012年12月25日訊 /生物谷BIOON/ --德州癌癥預(yù)防和研究中心(Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas，CPRIT),，決定暫停批準(zhǔn)新的研究經(jīng)費(fèi),。
CPRIT是一家由德州納稅人贊助的一家專門致力于癌癥研究的科研基金，同時(shí)也是美國(guó)最大的幾家癌癥研究贊助者之一。而此次的舉動(dòng)則是該組織最近關(guān)于如何更有效的使用研究經(jīng)費(fèi)爭(zhēng)論的延續(xù),。
最近幾年,，CPRIT一直被外界批評(píng)其審核批復(fù)基金的程序不夠公正，而在贊助給萊斯大學(xué)安德森癌癥研究中心以及Peloton Therapeutics的兩項(xiàng)共計(jì)3000萬美元的項(xiàng)目上,，更是引起了激烈的爭(zhēng)執(zhí),。（生物谷Bioon.com）
詳細(xì)英文報(bào)道：
As of this week, one of the largest funders of cancer research in the United States has temporarily stopped awarding grants, according to news reports.
The move by the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT), which is a state-sponsored taxpayer-funded agency, was in reaction to pressure and requests from Texas officials, including Governor Rick Perry.
The grant freeze is the latest development in an ongoing battle about questionable funding operations at the agency.
CPRIT reportedly hands out more cancer-related research dollars than any organization in the United States other than the National Institutes of Health.
Since 2007, CPRIT has channeled $1 billion in appropriations from the Texas legislature to fund cancer-related academic research projects, public prevention initiatives, and biotech cancer start-ups. These latter "commercialization" projects are a major source of agency turmoil.
Much of the controversy revolves around 2 large commercialization grants, both of which reportedly did not undergo the agency's standard review process. The awards total about $30 million.
The first controversial grant, for $18 million, was awarded to the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and Rice University in Houston, Texas, for a research-business incubator project. It was the largest award ever granted by CPRIT, as reported by Medscape Medical News.
The M.D. Anderson-Rice proposal was handled in a suspicious manner; the higher-ups at CPRIT hastily processed the grant application, circumventing CPRIT scientific reviewers, according to a Houston Chronicleinvestigative report published earlier this year. The grant's principal investigator is Lynda Chin, MD, a physician at M.D. Anderson and the wife of Ronald DePinho, MD, who is president of the cancer center.
In the past couple of weeks, it was reported that a second major grant, of $11 million, to Peloton Therapeutics (Dallas, Texas) also skirted the agency's review process.
Two weeks ago, the embattled executive director of CPRIT, Bill Gimson, finally resigned as questions abounded about his leadership. In addition, a Texas state office that investigates public corruption and criminal activity opened an inquiry into the agency.
Accusations of insider deals and cronyism have dogged the agency in the past year, as CPIRT's top scientists resigned in protest and made accusations on their way out the door.
Nobel laureate Phillip Sharp, PhD, quit his job as chair of the CPRIT Scientific Review Council in October. In his resignation letter, Dr. Sharp, who is also on the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, wrote that some of CPRIT's funding decisions have a "suspicion of favoritism." Another departing member of the scientific staff warned about "politically driven" funding and the subversion of scientific enterprise, according to press reports.
[1] [2] 下一頁(yè)
(責(zé)任編輯：zengchang)
