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State-Funded $25M Texas Cancer Trial Network Shuts Down


A signature project of the state's embattled $3 billion cancer-fighting agency is out of business following a critical audit that found more than $300,000 in expenses deemed inappropriate.

A top executive with the Clinical Trials Network of Texas said Tuesday the fledging project is out of money. The initiative had been awarded a $25 million taxpayer-funded grant by the state-run Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, which has unraveled amid a criminal investigation and mass resignations.

Dr. Charles Geyer, chief medical officer of the trial network, told The Associated Press that the state began withholding payments last month after state auditors found questionable expenses.

Among them was $160,000 in bonuses for the trial network's chief operating officer.

Geyer said 30 people with the trial network have been laid off.

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