AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The state official chosen to get Texas' troubled $3 billion cancer-fighting effort back on track isn't ready to say when the agency might emerge from a moratorium.
The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas on Wednesday finished two weeks of testifying before angry lawmakers who questioned how the once-celebrated initiative became mired in a criminal investigation and embarrassment over improper awards.
Wayne Roberts, the agency's interim executive director, says he understood lawmakers needed to express disappointment.
CPRIT has been under a moratorium since December, forbidding the agency from handing out more money. Roberts says he is still weighing "whether or not we ought to unfreeze anything."
Roberts says the agency still has more than 300 previously awarded grants to review and make sure none of those were handled improperly.
