Biotech Sector Weekly Rewind

Adam Feuerstein's take on the biotech sector's hits and misses during the week ended Dec. 10, 2010.
By Adam Feuerstein ,

BOSTON (

TheStreet

) -- Adam Feuerstein's take on the biotech week ended Dec. 10, 2010:

Vote for the

Best Biotech CEO of 2010

: Mitch Gold of

Dendreon

(DNDN)

,

Alexion Pharmaceuticals'

(ALXN) - Get Report

Leonard Bell or

Neurocrine Biosciences'

(NBIX) - Get Report

Kevin Gorman.

The week's best-performing stocks in the sector:

Epicept

( EPCT),

Orexigen Therapeutics

(OREX)

,

Vivus

(VVUS) - Get Report

,

Cytokinetics

(CYTK) - Get Report

and

China Biologic Products

(CBPO) - Get Report

.

An FDA advisory panel votes 13-7 to

recommend the approval

of Orexigen Therapeutics' weight-loss drug Contrave.

> > Bull or Bear? Vote in Our Poll

Pfizer

(PFE) - Get Report

CEO Jeff Kindler "retires," replaced by Ian Reed, the company's head of global pharmaceutical operations.

Kindler receives $9.5 million in cash, stock and other benefits as a parting gift.

Pfizer pulls lung drug Thelin off the European market and halts clinical trials due to liver toxicity and patient deaths.

Highlights of the American Society of Hematology annual meeting include data from

Seattle Genetics

(SGEN) - Get Report

(

brentuximab vedotin

),

Onyx Pharmaceuticals

(ONXX)

(

carfilzomib

) and

Ariad Pharmaceuticals

(ARIA)

(

ponatinib

).

Celgene

(CELG) - Get Report

shares are hit when

Revlimid runs into a secondary cancer problem

, but the stock rebounds and fully recovers by end of the week.

This week's

Biotech Stock Mailbag

, featuring Orexigen Therapeutics, Vivus,

Avanir Pharmaceuticals

(AVNR)

, Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Seattle Genetics and

Biovest International

(BVTI.PK)

.

Cytori Therapeutics

(CYTX)

and

Astellas

enter into a $10 million equity deal.

Momenta Pharmaceuticals

(MNTA) - Get Report

sells 4 million shares at $14.35, raising $57 million before expenses.

Five Drug Stock Winners of 2010

Five Drug Stock Losers of 2010

Aastrom Biosciences

(ASTM)

prices 10 million share units at $2.25 per unit, raising $22.5 million before expenses.

The

Worst Biotech CEO of 2010

...

Amylin Pharmaceuticals'

( AMLN) Dan Bradbury

Sequenom

(SQNM)

patent agent assisted insider-trading scheme

, alleges the

Securities and Exchange Commission

.

The week's worst-performing stocks in the sector:

Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals

( MIPI),

Radient Pharmaceuticals

( RPC),

Entremed

(ENMD)

,

Geron

(GERN) - Get Report

and

Aastrom Bioscience

(ASTM)

.

Teva

(TEVA) - Get Report

announces positive phase III study results on multiple sclerosis pill laquinimod.

Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals files for bankruptcy, announces financial and management restructuring.

Hedge fund Ramius offers $5.50-a-share to acquire

Cypress Bioscience

( CYPB).

Johnson & Johnson's

(JNJ) - Get Report

manufacturing and quality control issues

continue with a new Rolaids recall (via Pharmalot).

Cephalon

( CEPH) signs adult stem cell deal with Australian drug firm

Mesoblast

.

Roche

provides

late-stage drug pipeline update

.

--Written by Adam Feuerstein in Boston.

>To contact the writer of this article, click here:

Adam Feuerstein

.

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http://twitter.com/adamfeuerstein

.

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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;

click here

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