BBP vs CANC

BBPAVirtus Biotech ETF

CANCDTema Oncology ETF

In short

BBP Biotech, minus the coin flips. BBP tracks an index of US-listed biotech companies that already have at least one FDA-approved therapy, so the basket leans commercial-stage instead of clinical-trial hopefuls.

CANC Most biotech funds buy the whole lab. CANC buys the cancer wing: an actively managed book of roughly 60 companies, with at least 80% of assets in firms that earn half their revenue or more from oncology.

Stated mandate

BBP The fund seeks to track the LifeSci Biotechnology Products Index, which consists of U.S.-listed biotechnology stocks with at least one FDA-approved drug therapy.

CANC The Fund seeks long-term growth. Its principal strategy invests at least 80% of net assets in publicly listed companies deriving at least 50% of revenue from oncology.

Why people hold it

• BBP The screen does the heavy lifting: index membership requires at least one FDA-approved drug therapy, which filters out pre-approval story stocks.
• 0.34% a year undercuts the biotech cohort median of 0.50% and sits below IBB's 0.44%.
• Running since 2014 and spread across roughly 200 US-listed names, so one approval or rejection does not decide the whole basket.
• One of the stronger builds in its biotech and genomics peer group, with a portfolio that stays close to the index it promises.

• CANC The 50%-of-revenue test is the whole point. It screens for companies where cancer is the business, not a side project, then builds roughly 60 names around that.
• No oncology index to hug. A stock-picking team sets the portfolio, and the fund reports its results against the S&P 500 Total Return Index.stockanalysis.com
• Running since 2023, with a global mandate: the book can reach across US and European cancer franchises rather than stopping at the US border.stockanalysis.com

Worth knowing

• BBP Thinly traded and modest in size next to the category's household names. Spreads can widen, which makes limit orders the safer habit.
• Income is not the point here. The fund has not been paying distributions, so the return story is price.
• An approved drug filters risk, it does not erase it. This is a single-sector biotech basket, and sector drawdowns hit everything in it.

• CANC Costs 0.75% net of a waiver through June 28, 2027, versus 0.99% gross, and above the category median. Index peers IBBQ (0.19%) and XBI (0.35%) ask less.
• A small fund that trades thinly, so spreads can be wider and order size matters more than with the largest biotech baskets.
• Concentration cuts both ways: trial readouts, pricing policy and regulatory decisions in one disease area move this book. Distributions come annually or semiannually.

Full BBP profile⁠

Full CANC profile⁠