Texas’ public push into cancer research and development pays off

Although there are some renowned institutions coming with a number of Nobel Prize winners, Texas isn’t considered a national leader in area of research and development.

The trend, however, has been improving steadily nowadays. And voters now have a chance to keep this momentum going forward.

Texas’ public push into cancer research and development pays off

To follow up on their commitment made a dozen years ago, they’ll consider about an approval proposition for cancer research of another $3 billion on last Tuesday. The Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (known as CPRIT) has become the second-largest public funder of cancer research since then, just behind the National Cancer Institute.

Since 2009, CPRIT has gained 1,500 grants which were worth over $2.4 billion. The federal agency awarded $249 million for research in Texas last year, and CPRIT even doubled that annual spending.

The fund contributed to recruit 181 researchers and labs, which includes dozens of scholars from states with higher research bounties. Moreover, it helped to make medical breakthroughs as well as startup successes. It is also spent on prevention screenings for detecting over 3,600 cancers.

There is one more important return on this investment. The $2.4 billion, which was given to researchers & companies, has brought about $4.2 billion gaining from other sources. According to Dr. Daniel Podolsky, president of  UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, “CPRIT has become an important engine in the state as well as North Texas”.

Source: Dallasnews