Best Biotech CEO of 2010 Is...

TheStreet's readers picked Dendreon's Mitch Gold as the best biotech CEO of the year.
By Adam Feuerstein ,

BOSTON (

TheStreet

) --The Best Biotech CEO of 2010 is Mitch Gold of

Dendreon

(DNDN)

.

TheStreet's

biotech readers have spoken and Gold, who led Dendreon through a topsy-turvy FDA approval process for the prostate cancer therapy Provenge, garnered a commanding 52% of the votes in the

Best Biotech CEO of the Year

poll.

Congratulations, Mitch!

Runner-up was Leonard Bell of

Alexion Pharmaceuticals

(ALXN) - Get Report

, with 39% of the vote. Third place went to

Neurocrine Biosciences

(NBIX) - Get Report

chief Kevin Gorman, with support from 9% of readers.

Six hundred forty-two votes were cast overall for the Best Biotech CEO nominees, a respectable turnout but far below the 2,100 votes cast for the companion

Worst Biotech CEO

poll. Is that because my Best CEO nominees weren't all that inspiring, or perhaps readers are more motivated to cast votes against executives they despise?

Nevertheless, Gold takes home the coveted Swanson Trophy, named in honor of Robert Swanson,

Genentech's

founding CEO. In many ways, Gold exemplifies the namesake of this award.

Swanson co-founded Genentech at a time when the company's scientists were figuring out how to genetically re-engineer animal cells to produce therapeutic proteins aka the first "biotech" drugs. At Dendreon, Gold and his team pioneered the development of the first FDA-approved personalized immunotherapy treatment for prostate cancer. Provenge may pave the way one day for a host of new drugs that harness the power of a patient's own immune system to fight cancer or other diseases.

TheStreet's

past Best Biotech CEO winners were

Human Genome Sciences'

( HGSI)

Thomas Watkins

in 2009 and

Myriad Genetics'

(MYGN) - Get Report

Peter Meldrum

in 2008.

All three CEO nominees -- Bell, Gorman and Gold -- were deserving of the award this year but they were not the only biotech execs worthy of praise in 2010.

Questcor Pharmaceuticals

(QCOR)

CEO Don Bailey could have easily made the finalists list for the tremendous job selling Acthar Gel, which in turn, has made shareholders very happy.

Celgene

(CELG) - Get Report

CEO Robert Hugin deserves kudos for commanding the last true growth stock in the large-cap biotech group.

Hats off to

Orexigen Therapeutics

(OREX)

CEO Michael Narachi for doing the impossible -- convincing an FDA advisory panel to vote positively on an obesity drug. It was a strong and overwhelmingly positive year clinically for

Vertex Pharmaceuticals

(VRTX) - Get Report

and hepatitis C drug telaprevir, so congratulations to CEO Matt Emmens, who must share the adulation with former chief executive Joshua Boger.

--Written by Adam Feuerstein in Boston.

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Adam Feuerstein writes regularly for TheStreet.com. In keeping with TSC's editorial policy, he doesn't own or short individual stocks, although he owns stock in TheStreet.com. He also doesn't invest in hedge funds or other private investment partnerships. Feuerstein appreciates your feedback;

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