BOSTON (

TheStreet

) -- Readers will decide who takes home the award for the Best Biotech CEO of 2010.

Just like last week's poll to name the

worst biotech CEO of the year

, I'm allowing readers of

TheStreet's

biotech coverage to select the chief executive who exemplifies outstanding leadership and performance in 2010.

To simplify the voting and help reach consensus, I've nominated three CEOs for the prestigious Swanson Trophy, named in honor of Robert Swanson,

Genentech's

( DNA) founding CEO.

TheStreet's

past Best Biotech CEO winners were

Human Genome Sciences'

( HGSI)

Thomas Watkins

in 2009, and

Myriad Genetics'

(MYGN) - Get Report

Peter Meldrum

The three best CEO nominees for 2010 are: Mitchell Gold of

Dendreon's

(DNDN)

, Kevin Gorman of

Neurocrine Biosciences

(NBIX) - Get Report

and Leonard Bell of

Alexion Pharmaceuticals

(ALXN) - Get Report

.

For the 2010 crowning, I'd like readers to cast the deciding votes. Read the following nominating summaries and make your selection in the interactive poll below. Feel free to post comments at the bottom of the column if you feel I left out a CEO deserving of honorable mention.

Mitchell Gold, Dendreon:

I shouldn't have to say much as to why Gold is deserving of a Best Biotech CEO nomination. Dendreon's prostate cancer drug Provenge, the first cancer therapy that harnesses the power of a patient's own immune system to fight tumors, received approval from the FDA in April.

Provenge's approval alone is an achievement enough to herald Gold's work at Dendreon. Yet as any biotech follower knows, the path that Dendreon took to get Provenge across the finish line was insanely volatile and required extraordinary leadership by Gold to keep the company and its mission together.

Kevin Gorman, Neurocrine Biosciences:

Who doesn't like a great comeback story? Neurocrine was a drug company left for dead after the rejection of its insomnia drug indiplon and the exit of disgraced CEO Gary Lyons. Into the fire stepped Gorman, who led a long but remarkable turnaround that really caught fire with investors this year.

Gorman refocused the company and created value with the development of a promising new drug for endometriosis and a major partnership with

Abbott Labs

(ABT) - Get Report

. Neurocrine's shares are up almost 200% this year.

Leonard Bell, Alexion Pharmaceuticals:

Alexion out-Genzymed Genzyme this year to become Wall Street's favorite orphan drug growth stock. Selling super high-priced drugs for ultra-rare diseases is a winning strategy, but only when you can execute and actually manufacture the super high-priced drugs that these desperately ill patients need.

While Genzyme stumbled badly, Alexion under Bell's management executed to near perfection this year with Soliris, a $500,000-a-year drug approved to treat paroxysymal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH), an ultra-rare red blood cell disease. Alexion has beaten Wall Street expectations four straight quarters, with Soliris revenue expected to grow 40% to almost $540 million in 2010. Alexion earnings are on pace to grow 50% this year and 35% next year. Soliris is poised to grow even more now that the drug has proven effective in treating another rare disease.

Alexion's shares are up nearly 60% year to date. Biotech investors craving growth have found little to like amongt the big caps in the sectors, which is why profitable and fast-growing mid-cap stocks like Alexion have proven so irresistible. As Alexion's CEO, Bell deserves the credit.

--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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