EyeTech Pharmaceuticals has priced its US initial public offering (IPO) above the bookbuilding range, boosting hopes of a revival for biotechnology sector, the worst performer last year.

Renaissance Capital, the independent IPO research firm, said: "While it has all of the risks of an unseasoned biotech, Eyetech may be the first hot biotech in three years, and the shares are being offered to investors at a bargain price."