Some of the scientists with the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas have resigned, with one warning that the $3 billion taxpayer-funded agency is headed down a path of systematic abuse.
Texas is home to the country’s second largest cancer-research fund, which is the largest of any state. The only entity funded at a higher level is the federal National Institutes of Health. C-PRIT has awarded almost $700 million in grants in the past three years.
Seven researchers, including Nobel Laureate Dr. Phillip Sharp, resigned last week in protest of the way money is awarded at the institute. The San Antonio Express-News reports that in his resignation letter, Sharp criticized C-PRIT for a “suspicion of favoritism” in handing out taxpayer dollars.
Signs of politics over science surfaced in May, when the chief scientific officer resigned in protest of the agency’s award of $20 million for a commercial project without scientific review.
