The race to bringing a coronavirus vaccine to market is heating up. That spells opportunity for the Principal Healthcare Innovators Index ETF (BTEC).
BTEC seeks to provide investment results that closely correspond, before expenses, to the performance of the Nasdaq Healthcare Innovators Index.
Under normal circumstances, the fund invests at least 80% of its net assets, plus any borrowings for investment purposes, in equity securities of companies that compose the index at the time of purchase. The index uses a quantitative model designed to identify equity securities in the Nasdaq US Benchmark Index (including growth and value stock) that are small and medium capitalization U.S. healthcare companies.
“There are 198 coronavirus vaccine projects in the works, according to the World Health Organization,” reports Business Insider. “Research has progressed quickly into human testing, with 42 vaccine candidates now being tried on humans in clinical trials around the world. A handful are in the final stage of testing, which could show if these vaccines work or not before the end of 2020.”
The Urgent Need for a Vaccine
The fight against the coronavirus pandemic has pushed the biotechnology industry to the front lines. Governments globally have poured billions of dollars into the biotech industry, prompting a race by innovative companies to produce a viable Covid-19 treatment.
“There’s an urgent need for a vaccine, particularly in the US, where the pandemic has not been brought under control. As of October 27, the US had recorded more than 8.7 million infections and more than 225,000 deaths attributed to the virus,” according to Business Insider.
With its positioning at the cusp of healthcare innovation, a theme being spotlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic, BTEC is proving youthful healthcare investments can be served. BTEC seeks to tap into the increasing demand for healthcare solutions as demographic trends have driven healthcare spending to more than double in the last 20 years, according to Principal.
“Vaccine development is historically a challenging multiyear process, aimed at ensuring a candidate is safe and effective before giving it to millions of healthy people. Governments and nonprofits have given billions of dollars to drugmakers to expedite this process and do multiple steps of testing in parallel,” notes Business Insider.
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