Texas' cancer-fighting agency loses another high-ranking official
"The state’s $3 billion cancer-fighting agency has lost another high-ranking official.
Jerald “Jerry” Cobbs has resigned as chief commercialization officer of the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. He was the agency’s point person in efforts to help for-profit companies try to develop better ways to treat cancer.
CPRIT said it was handling Cobbs’ departure as a “personnel matter” and would not comment on why he stepped down, said Ellen Read, an agency spokeswoman. The agency released a brief statement late Monday, quoting Cobbs’ resignation letter that he was moving to the private sector.
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Cobbs was in the middle of an ongoing debate over how much the anti-cancer agency should invest in for-profit companies trying to develop better ways to treat cancer. The agency has devoted about 75 percent of its funds to research, 15 percent to commercialization, and 10 percent to prevention.
Some business owners have urged CPRIT to spend a higher percentage of its funding on commercial projects. But the agency faces accusations that its method for
awarding grants has become compromised. Its chief scientist and dozens of others who evaluated proposals have quit amid concerns that politics has infected the agency.
Cobbs also was a central player in CPRIT’s controversial decision to recommend a $20 million grant for an “incubator” project in Houston, a joint effort between the University of Texas-M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and Rice University. Incubators are designed to connect scientists and business experts to bring innovations to market.
The incubator project was ratified without a scientific review, triggering the resignation of CPRIT’s Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Alfred Gilman, a Nobel Laureate."
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