LAS VEGAS—The UC San Diego Health System's board of regents approved its plans to acquire the Las Vegas-based Nevada Cancer Institute.

The not-for-profit institute, founded in 2005 and designated by the Nevada Legislature as the state's official cancer institute, has a seven-physician clinical faculty and a 14-member research faculty, according to the institute's website. A majority of its 135 employees have been offered employment contracts, said UC San Diego Health System spokeswoman Jacqueline Carr. The institute, housed in a four-story, 142,000-square-foot treatment center, has separate research and administrative buildings and also operates a clinic at the University Medical Center.

The system plans to buy the cancer institute with $18 million in clinical revenue generated by its hospitals, Carr said, and the terms require the institute to commit to a $20.5 million, five-year fundraising campaign by which UC San Diego Health System will recoup its purchase price and use the balance for recruitment of faculty, Carr said. So far, the Englestad Family Foundation, backed by the family of late casino mogul Ralph Englestad, has committed to providing $15 million to the campaign, she said.

All philanthropic support for the institute will be “specifically reserved for the Nevada facility and its patients,” according to a university news release. The purchase price covers the facility and the clinical practice, but UC San Diego Health System is not acquiring any of its basic science research functions, Carr said.