- COVID is accelerating global health systems transformation – fast
tracking digital health adoption rates.
- Combatting COVID-19 is directly benefiting a large number of the holdings in our healthcare innovation ETF.
- AI,
Machine Learning and the Cloud are enabling new health-tech products and
services.
- Fast adoption rates of Gene Sequencing, Healthcare Trackers and
Telemedicine is resulting in impressive growth rates.
- Biden administration to unleash huge US government healthcare spending.
Performance Review
HAN-GINS Indxx Healthcare Innovation UCITS ETF (WELL) gained an
impressive 6.04% in December- finishing the year with a 27.85% gain.
The leading subtheme contributors to these gains have been in Medical
Devices and Biological Engineering (Biotech) which represent 8 of the 10 best
performing holdings. Device makers who
contributed most included Dexcom (up 15.7%), Edwards Lifesciences
(8.8%), Boston Scientific (8.5%), Allign Tech (11.0%) and ABIOMED
(18.3%).
Biotech’s main contributors were led by BioMarin Pharma (up
11.4%), Sarepta Therapeutics (21.0%), Sysmex Corp (14.6%), Exact
Sciences (9.5%) and Jazz Pharma (17.3%).
Other key contributors included Robotics leader Intuitive
Surgical (up 12.7%) and large Genome Sequencing firms Illumina (up
14.9%) and Adaptive Biotech (22.6%).
These subthemes have all enjoyed reratings due to COVID’s recent second
surge.
Healthcare Innovation ETF (WELL) Returns
December
|
YTD*
|
12 Month**
|
6.04%
|
27.85%
|
27.85%
|
Past performance is no guarantee of future performance.
Source: Bloomberg/HANetf
*YTD figures based on 01.01.20 - 31.12.20
** 12 Month figures based on 01.01.20 – 31.12.20
For 2020, a number of holdings exceeds 150% gains. It is encouraging to see these gains being
shared across a number of subthemes in our healthcare innovation ETF.
The fast-track adoption of digital medical services, gene editing and
remote medicine has helped drive gains in Healthcare trackers, telemedicine,
Gene Sequencing, Bioinformatics and Biotech holdings.
Our Indxx benchmark has shown solid gains over the past 4 years – showing
23.53% annualised returns. Its 12-month
return is 28.79%.
Past performance is
no guarantee of future performance.
Source of all data: HANetf, Bloomberg. Data as of 31.12.2020
HAN-GINS Indxx Healthcare
Innovation UCITS ETF – Performance
Total Return NAV to Date (up to
31/12/2020)
|
1M
|
3M
|
6M
|
YTD
|
12M
|
Since Inception
|
HAN-GINS Indxx Healthcare Innovation UCITS ETF (Acc)
|
6.04%
|
10.82%
|
18.91%
|
27.85%
|
27.85%
|
42.05%
|
Indxx Advanced Life Sciences & Smart Healthcare Thematic Indxx (NTR)
|
6.08%
|
10.94%
|
19.18%
|
28.79%
|
28.79%
|
43.94%
|
Past performance is not an
indicator for future results and should not be the sole factor of consideration
when selecting a product. Investors should read the prospectus of the Issuer
(“Prospectus”) before investing and should refer to the section of the Prospectus
entitled ‘Risk Factors’ for further details of risks associated with an
investment in this product. Source: INDXX. Data as of 31/12/20
Industry News
COVID
is accelerating global health systems to transform and innovate. 2020 saw rapid
increases in investment across medical well-being and care delivery innovators.
Key
trends are the leveraging of AI, Machine Learning (ML), and the Cloud/Internet
of Things (IoT) to enable new health-tech products and services. The main areas of growth are summarized below:
- AI, machine
learning, and deep learning
- Internet of Things (includes remote monitoring, telemedicine, wearables)
- Digital medical
devices
- Genomics and
sequencing
The
following Health Tech Innovations are the ones we currently view as the most
important:
- Smart inhalers
(asthma suffers in particular)
- Robotic surgery
(minimally invasive procedures)
- Wireless brain
sensors (measures the temperature and pressure within the brain. Since the
sensors are able to dissolve, they reduce the need for additional surgeries).
- 3-D printing (for
implants, prosthetics etc).
- Artificial organs
(grow within the patient’s body to replace original)
- Health wearables
(tracks blood-sugar levels for diabetes patients, physical fitness, heartbeat,
sleeping patterns etc) Fitbit, Apple 4 Watch devices
- Precision medicine
(based on an individual’s genetic make-up)
- Virtual reality
(helps in-patient rehabilitation and recovery, medical students etc).
- Telehealth (critical
during COVID – providing remote medical care through their digital devices,
instead of in person). The global
telemedicine market is expected to be worth $113.1 billion by 2025.[1]
- CRISPR - the most
advanced gene-editing technology yet. Awarded Nobel Prize in 2020.

For illustrative purposes only.
Source: www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/digital-health-market
Constituent News
WELL currently has
107 constituents, with the US weighting dominating at 81.02%. It is followed by
Japan (5.40%), Switzerland (3.48%), China (2.70%) and the UK (2.18%). Medical devices remain the largest subtheme
in the ETF with a 58.22% weighting, followed by Biological Engineering at
22.33% (includes Biotech). The leading contributors to WELL’s performance
continued to be from these two large subthemes – see below.
Increasingly, more
midcap holdings are amongst WELL’s leading contributors. A number of holdings
across Genome Sequencing, Robotics, Neuroscience, Bioinformatics and Healthcare
Trackers posted impressive double digit gains for December. These subthemes are expected to benefit from
significant increased US government healthcare spending under a Biden
presidency.
Faster adoption rates of digital
healthcare due to COVID – continue to boost WELL’s holdings in the device and
biotech areas.
Top Contributors - December
2020
Company Name
|
Sub-Themes
|
Return
|
Contribution to Fund
|
Intuitive Surgical Inc
|
Robotics
|
15.65%
|
5.34%
|
Edwards Lifesciences Corp
|
Medical Devices
|
14.87%
|
4.96%
|
Medtronic PLC
|
Medical Devices
|
12.68%
|
4.82%
|
Align Technology Inc
|
Medical Devices
|
8.75%
|
3.91%
|
Illumina Inc
|
Genome Sequencing
|
8.45%
|
3.87%
|
Boston Scientific Corp
|
Medical Devices
|
11.42%
|
3.81%
|
Agilent Technologies Inc
|
Medical Devices
|
21.04%
|
3.69%
|
Biogen Inc
|
Neuroscience
|
11.03%
|
3.51%
|
DexCom Inc
|
Medical Devices
|
18.28%
|
3.43%
|
Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc
|
Medical Devices
|
14.58%
|
3.22%
|
Sub-theme
|
December
|
Weight on close
|
Medical Devices
|
2.98%
|
58.22%
|
Biological Engineering
|
1.10%
|
22.33%
|
Genome Sequencing
|
1.07%
|
6.79%
|
Robotics
|
0.55%
|
5.42%
|
Neuroscience
|
0.14%
|
5.91%
|
Healthcare Trackers
|
0.03%
|
1.04%
|
Bioinformatics
|
0.08%
|
0.29%
|
Past performance is
no guarantee of future performance.
Source
of data: INDXX. Data as of 31/12/20
Globally,
the Gene Therapy market is expected to show a decade long market growth rate of
31.1%, annualised (CAGR). While the US is currently the largest region,
Asia-Pacific is expected to be the fastest growing region over the next decade.[2]
COVID-19 supply constraints are
providing a boon to medical device and product manufacturers, particularly
those focused on PPE, as well as older people continuing to embrace telehealth
and telemedicine. However, tech companies will play a critical role in creating
tools that impact the complexity of their care and chronic conditions. We
predict see greater partnerships between tech and healthcare to address health
equity within this vulnerable population. In a post-COVID-19 world, healthcare
will be required to embrace technology to impact positive outcomes in the lives
of patients and their families.
Fund Details
HAN-GINS Indxx Healthcare Innovation UCITS ETF (WELL) is a UCITS compliant Exchange Traded Fund domiciled in Ireland.
Our healthcare innovation ETF tracks the Indxx Advanced Life Sciences & Smart Healthcare Thematic Index (Net Total Return), an index designed to measure the performance of large, mid and small-capitalisation companies primarily listed on an exchange in Developed and Emerging Markets that are involved in the Advanced Life Sciences & Smart Healthcare sector.
Please remember that the value of your investment may go down as well as up and past performance is no indication of future performance.
EXCHANGE |
BB CODE |
RIC |
ISIN |
CURRENCY |
INCOME |
London Stock Exchange
|
WELL LN
|
HAWELL.L
|
IE00BJQ848
|
USD
|
Acc
|
London Stock Exchange
|
WELP LN
|
WELP.L
|
IE00BJQ848
|
GBP
|
Acc
|
Borsa Italiana
|
WELL IM
|
WELL.MI
|
IE00BJQ848
|
EUR
|
Acc
|
XETRA
|
W311 GY
|
W311.DE
|
DE00A2PE7K4
|
EUR
|
Acc
|
SIX
|
WELL SW
|
WELL.S
|
IE00BJQ848
|
EUR
|
Acc
|