CPRIT approves nine product development awards after negotiated reductions; committee clears $9M competitive cost‑adjustment RFA

The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas oversight committee approved nine product-development research awards recommended by the Program Integration Committee and accepted staff’s post-review negotiations that reduced the total requested budget. Committee members voted to delegate contract negotiation authority to the CEO and to permit advanced disbursement of grant tranches consistent with the General Appropriations Act. The committee also approved a proposed competitive cost-adjustment RFA intended to re-invest roughly $9 million of remaining product-development program funds into existing, high-performing CPRIT grantees.

Why it matters: These product-development awards fund clinical studies, manufacturing scale-up and platform development intended to move laboratory innovations toward clinical testing and patient access. Several awardees are relocating headquarters or operations to Texas — a stated CPRIT objective intended to strengthen the state’s biotech ecosystem.

What the committee approved - Nine product development award recommendations were approved after due diligence and negotiated budget adjustments. Staff reported the full-review recommendations initially totaled about $68.8 million; negotiated downward adjustments reduced the funded total to roughly $63.5 million. - The nine companies and projects included: Curve Biosciences (clinical utility study of a blood test for early detection of liver and related cancers); MyMark Therapeutics (phase 1 cell therapy for metastatic pancreatic cancer); Telos Biotechnology (telomere-extension platform for CAR-T manufacturing); MediClips Therapeutics (personal cancer vaccine trial for resectable head and neck cancer); Barricade (TASEN 15 small-molecule for a colorectal cancer target); Ypsilon (bispecific T-cell engager targeting CT83 for solid tumors); Orphanogen (OR-449 oral inhibitor for adrenocortical carcinoma); EyesBack Bio (ALC1 inhibitor for HRD tumors, phase 2 trial); and Arison (single-cell protein sequencing assay to stratify checkpoint inhibitor responses in NSCLC). Several awardees are relocating operations or headquarters to Texas, according to staff presentations. - One application (DP 250-159) prompted an identified conflict-of-interest recusal by a committee member; the body voted on that application separately and recorded the recusal. - The oversight committee delegated contract negotiation authority to the CEO and CPRIT staff and authorized the CEO to sign contracts for approved product-development awards. - Pursuant to the General Appropriations Act, article 9, section 4.02(a), the oversight committee authorized CPRIT to make advanced payments upon execution of award contracts and successful completion of specified tranches for selected companies. - The committee approved a competitive cost-adjustment RFA: staff described a plan to offer targeted competitive awards to existing CPRIT product-development grantees that had demonstrated progress and might require supplemental funding to execute objectives that were reduced during earlier budget negotiations.

Process and context - Staff described an unusually large intake for this funding cycle — about 90 preliminary applications — and a multi-stage review process that winnowed to 22 full applications. Panels conducted written reviews and three-hour interviews; due diligence followed the PICC recommendations. - Staff noted several practical reasons for the competitive cost-adjustment RFA: negotiated reductions left roughly $9 million in the product-development allocation and staff said the RFA would be peer reviewed and awarded competitively to successful grantees that require supplemental funds to meet original objectives, for example manufacturing steps or an additional clinical cohort.

Speakers - Dr. Ken Smith, Chief Product Development Officer (presented the PDR update and award recommendations) - Jennifer Doyle, CEO (addressed contracting and advanced payment authority) - Dr. Rosenfeld (oversight committee member who recused from 1 application) - Dr. Cummings, Chair (presided over the vote)

Authorities referenced - General Appropriations Act, Article 9, Section 4.02(a) (advanced payment authority for grant tranches) — cited by staff and used as the basis for the advanced-payments motion.

Provenance - topicintro: {"block_id":"s=6858.285","local_start":0,"local_end":120,"evidence_excerpt":"Moving on to agenda item 10, the chair recognizes chief product development officer, doctor Ken Smith, to provide the chief product development officer's report."} - topfinish: {"block_id":"s=7942.78","local_start":0,"local_end":120,"evidence_excerpt":"Members, miss Doyle identified the board on November 15th that she seeks authority to disperse grant funds in advance to the 9 companies we have just approved for awards today... Pursuant to the General Appropriations Act, article 9, section 4.02, subsection a... All in favor, vote aye."}

Clarifying details - Category:review_count, detail:"Preliminary and full application counts","value":90,"units":"applications","approximate":false,"source_speaker":"Dr. Ken Smith" - Category:funding_range, detail:"Initial recommended amount vs. negotiated funded amount for PDR slate","value":"initial ~$68,800,000; negotiated ~$63,500,000","units":"USD","approximate":true,"source_speaker":"Dr. Ken Smith"

Searchable_tags:["product_development","clinical_trials","CPRIT","relocation","advanced_payments"],