The chief of the state's troubled $3 billion cancer-fighting agency says a "procedural nightmare" partly explains how $11 million in taxpayer funds were improperly awarded to a private company.
The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas has been under fire since disclosing last week that Dallas-based Peloton Therapeutics received a lucrative state grant in 2010 without ever having its 27-page proposal reviewed.
Bill Gimson, executive director of CPRIT, said Wednesday the grant was approved in 2010 at a time when the new agency was still implementing policies. He said the agency's former chief commercialization officer made mistakes but that there was no intent at deception or personal financial gain.
One member of the agency's oversight board has called for a review of Gimson's job performance.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.