IHE vs PSIL

IHEBiShares U.S. Pharmaceuticals ETF

PSILFAdvisorShares Psychedelics 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.

PSIL The ticker is the thesis. PSIL is a compact, global, actively run basket of health care companies working on psychedelic medicine, with a stated goal of long-term capital appreciation in a corner of the market almost no other ETF touches.

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.

PSIL The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation.

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.

• PSIL One ticker, the whole theme: a global basket of roughly two dozen health care names tied to psychedelic medicine, instead of hand-picking single clinical-stage stocks.advisorshares.com
• Concentrated on purpose. At around 25 positions, the theme stays front and center rather than getting diluted inside a broad mega-cap pharma index.
• Trading since 2021, so there is multi-year live operating history behind the strategy, not a simulated one.

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.

• PSIL Expensive by pharma-ETF standards: 1.84% a year, against 0.36% at PPH and 0.35% at XPH. A niche, actively managed mandate carries a niche price tag.
• Small asset base and light trading volume. Spreads can be wide, so limit orders are the standard way to deal with a fund this thinly traded.
• Within its pharma and therapeutics peer group it sits in the bottom quartile, held back mainly by cost and tradability rather than the theme itself.

Full IHE profile⁠

Full PSIL profile⁠