IBB vs SBIO

IBBAiShares Biotechnology ETF

SBIOCALPS Medical Breakthroughs ETF

In short

IBB Biotech's original index fund. Since 2001 IBB has packed the whole US biotech sector, roughly 250 names, into one line item for 0.44% a year, below what the typical biotech fund charges.

SBIO SBIO goes at biotech through a purpose-built medical breakthroughs index instead of the household benchmarks, spreading roughly 100 drug developers across one basket. A specialist route, priced at the category's middle.

Stated mandate

IBB The Fund seeks to track an index composed of U.S.-listed equities focused on the biotechnology sector.

SBIO The fund seeks investment results that generally track, before fees and expenses, the performance of the S-Network Medical Breakthroughs Index (PMBI).

Why people hold it

• IBB A 2001 launch makes it one of the sector's originals, and it has grown into a multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively.
• Roughly 250 stocks, so the whole US biotech bench comes along instead of a few marquee drugmakers.
• 0.44% a year, set by the prospectus and below the median fee in its biotech peer group.
• Sticks closely to the job in its prospectus: US-listed biotech equities, nothing exotic bolted on. That lands it in the upper half of its peer group.ishares.com

• SBIO Tracks the S-Network Medical Breakthroughs Index, a dedicated rules-based basket rather than the standard biotech benchmarks most funds in the group follow.
• Roughly 100 holdings, so no single drug readout carries the whole fund.
• The 0.50% expense ratio sits right at the median for biotech and genomics funds. No premium charged for the narrower mandate.
• Trading since 2014, giving it a decade-plus of live operating history through several biotech cycles.

Worth knowing

• IBB Cheaper seats exist in the same aisle: IBBQ at 0.19%, BBP at 0.34%, XBI at 0.35%.
• One industry carries the whole fund. Trial readouts, FDA decisions and patent expiries drive it, with no other sector to cushion a rough patch.
• Distributions arrive quarterly, but biotech is a growth sector and payouts are a side effect, not the point.

• SBIO Thinly traded next to the giants of the category, so spreads and limit orders matter more here than with the household names.
• Several funds in the same biotech cohort screen stronger overall, and some cost less: IBBQ at 0.19% and XBI at 0.35% versus SBIO's 0.50%.
• Not an income vehicle. Whatever this fund does, it does through the share prices of the drug developers it holds.

Full IBB profile⁠

Full SBIO profile⁠