A Niche ETF In The Potentially Promising Future Of Immunotherapy Is On The Horizon

Noah Kiedrowski - INO.com Contributor - Biotech


Introduction

Immunotherapy has emerged as an exciting therapeutic area that has experienced massive growth over the past few years in terms of research and development expenditures and sheer number of clinical trials throughout the biotechnology sector. Immunotherapy ushers in a new class of potentially promising therapies by leveraging the immune system to recognize and eradicate debilitating diseases, specifically cancer and chronic viral infections. This immunotherapy approach may inevitably result in a paradigm shift from traditional medical intervention. Immunotherapy possesses holistic attributes by harnessing the body’s immune system to content with disease. In addition to the holistic aspects, immunotherapy has been shown to have a favorable side effect profile and best-in-class efficacy across many different disease states. These therapies may provide powerful technology to content with a host of diseases and in a future state may potentially serve as a preventative technology similar to a traditional vaccine. Immunotherapy has evolved into many different classifications with differing modalities over the past few years, which has given rise to a growing number small-cap biotechnology companies with potential investment opportunities via an immunotherapy ETF.

Immunotherapy – The terse science

Immunotherapies engage and recruit the immune system to combat disease by inducing an antibody generation response against a specific antigen (foreign entity) typically present on the cell surface of a virus or cancer cell. This is very similar to a traditional vaccine approach seen for a whole host of diseases throughout history. Continue reading "A Niche ETF In The Potentially Promising Future Of Immunotherapy Is On The Horizon"

A Newly Issued Pure Biotech ETF Worth Considering

Noah Kiedrowski - INO.com Contributor - Biotech


Introduction

The biotechnology sector has witnessed unprecedented growth that has left all major indices far behind in both annual and cumulative performance over the past decade and more notably 5 years. Using the iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology Index (IBB) and SPDR S&P Biotech (XBI) as proxies, these ETFs have posted annual returns of greater than 30% over the past 5 years while more than quadrupling returns on a cumulative basis over the past decade. It is noteworthy to point out that both IBB and XBI have risen to all-time highs recently while IBB broke the $400 per share barrier as well.

A novel way to play the biotechnology cohort has entered into the ETF universe via BioShares™ Biotechnology Products (BBP) ETF. BBP offers a pure biotech play with no holdings in the generic, specialty pharma, life science tools, medical device, diagnostic or other healthcare companies. Thus this ETF focuses solely on the biotechnology cohort with at least one FDA approved product in its portfolio. Continue reading "A Newly Issued Pure Biotech ETF Worth Considering"