CPRIT Halts Funding to Dallas Company

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) _ The state’s embattled $3 billion cancer-fighting agency approved an $11 million award to a biomedical company even though its proposal never underwent a review.

A person with knowledge of the discovery told The Associated Press on Thursday that the improper funding was uncovered during an internal audit of the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the agency had not yet made an official announcement.

The award in 2010 to Dallas-based Peloton Therapeutics Inc. was among the agency’s first.

The person told AP that funding to Peloton has been halted and that the company’s application is undergoing a second review.

Pelton’s proposal would have been presented for approval by Jerry Cobbs, the agency’s chief commercialization officer. Cobbs announced his resignation this month.

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