PPH vs PSIL

PPHAVanEck Pharmaceutical ETF

PSILFAdvisorShares Psychedelics ETF

In short

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.

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

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.

PSIL The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation.

Why people hold it

• 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.

• 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

• 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.

• 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 PPH profile⁠

Full PSIL profile⁠