IHE vs PPH

IHEBiShares U.S. Pharmaceuticals ETF

PPHAVanEck Pharmaceutical ETF

In short

IHE The domestic purist of pharma funds: about 60 US drug and vaccine makers, weighted by size, no foreign names riding along. Running since 2006, it is the plain cap-weighted take on Big Pharma.

PPH About two dozen US-listed drugmakers in one ticker, tracking the MVIS US Listed Pharmaceutical 25 Index since 2011. VanEck charges well under the pharma-fund median to run it.

Stated mandate

IHE The fund seeks to track an index of U.S. companies in the pharmaceuticals sector, giving investors targeted exposure to domestic drug manufacturers and vaccine producers.

PPH The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the performance of the MVIS US Listed Pharmaceutical 25 Index, which covers companies involved in pharmaceutical research and development, production, marketing, and sales.

Why people hold it

• IHE Costs 0.37% a year against a 0.57% median for pharma funds, landing within a basis point or two of the cheapest options in the group.
• Tracks the Dow Jones U.S. Select Pharmaceuticals Index: domestic drug and vaccine makers only, not the US-listed foreign pharma that PPH's index also picks up.vaneck.com
• Trading since 2006 under the iShares banner, now a billion-dollar-plus fund with moderate daily volume and quarterly distributions.
• Sits in the upper half of its pharma peer group on our review, one of the sturdier implementations of a simple, cheap, index-following mandate.

• PPH Costs 0.36% a year against a 0.57% median for pharma ETFs, undercutting peers like PJP and FTXH.
• Focused by design: the index tracks US-listed pharmaceutical companies (research, production, marketing, sales) rather than the whole health care aisle.vaneck.com
• Trading since 2011, one of the veterans of the pharma shelf, and it sits in the top quartile of its peer group on our review.
• Pays out quarterly, and it is a moderately traded fund, so getting in and out is usually straightforward.

Worth knowing

• IHE Cap weighting across about 60 names puts the largest US drug makers in the driver's seat; XPH uses modified equal weight to spread dollars across large, mid and small caps.ssga.com
• Pharma only. No biotech, devices or insurers, and the fund is non-diversified, making it a narrow slice of health care.ishares.com
• The 0.37% fee undercuts the category median but not the floor: XPH at 0.35% and PPH at 0.36% shade it slightly.

• PPH Around 26 holdings. One company's trial result or patent cliff carries real weight in a basket this tight.
• Single-sector health care exposure: drug pricing politics and regulation land on the whole basket at once, with nothing else to cushion it.
• The fee edge over the category is real, but XPH sits at 0.35%, so cost alone is not what separates these two.

Full IHE profile⁠

Full PPH profile⁠