State Senator and former Chester County Commissioner Andy Diniman was quoted in an editorial in the March 28th edition of the Philadelphia Business Journal written by Craig Ey, the paper’s Editor-In-Chief.

In the page 26 editorial Sy cites an article from the paper’s March 21st edition written by John George on whether the Delaware Valley has the money, leadership and talent to become a national and international hub for regenerative medicine.   Georges March 21st article quoted Dinniman extensively.

According to Wikipedia regenerative medicine, “is the process of replacing or regenerating human cells, tissues or organs to restore or establish normal function.”

Making the Delaware Valley a hub for regenerative medicine, according to George’s PBJ’s article, will require money in the form of government funding or private donations, money that is hard to come by in these challenging economic times.

In that article in which Fibrocell Sciences of Exton is cited as “the only locally traded regenerative medicine company,” Dinniman, the co-chair of Senate’s Life Sciences and Biotechnology Caucus and the only government official cited in the article states:

“If we could become a world center in this new area of biopharmaceutical and medical research there would be an economic return, but we are also talking about changing for the better the lives of thousands and thousands of patients.”

“If there’s a shortage of funds to do this right now, we could focus on figuring out the infrastructure we would need and identifying the key industry players and our strengths and weakness. That way when the economy improves we’d be ready to do something.”

Referencing Dinniman’s quote in George’s March 21st article, Editor-In-Chief Ey asks if the Delaware Valley can afford to wait for a more prosperous economy:

“The government, under current leadership, is an unlikely source. We have a state and city that can barely fund education and infrastructure. State Sen. Andy Dinniman, a Chester County Democrat and co-chair of the state’s Life Sciences and Biotechnology Caucus, told George that he would support efforts to turn Philadelphia into a regenerative medicine hub but funding would probably have to wait for a more robust economy.”

Ey concludes his editorial by urging the region to flex its “regional muscle” in an election year by demanding “to know the candidates’ vision for southeastern Pennsylvania.

Good idea Mr. Ey and good to know a Chester County Senator is in the middle of the fray.

Philadelphia Business Journal’s Craig Ey’s editorial here, and John George’s article titled Talking about Regeneration here.