Checking Up on Biotech

The Dow sank 281 points on Friday, Aug. 3, gained it all back and more the following Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, then plunged again to finish the week. What a wild ride.

As we head into the weekend, I'm reminded of the advice Count Rugen gave Prince Humperdinck in The Princess Bride: "Get some rest -- if you haven't got your health, you haven't got anything."

Not every fund was sucked down by the credit crunch-induced selloff. This week a group of highly concentrated, narrow-focus exchange-traded funds stand out as best in class. All of the ETFs on the best-performing list, excluding the SPDR S&P Biotech(XBI Quote), are too new to be rated.

If you want to know more about these funds, please see my article from March, when the funds were launched.

For the five trading days ending Thursday, Aug. 9, the HealthShares Autoimmune-Inflammation(HHA Quote) rose 7.7%. The fund's holding of Enzo Biochem(ENZ Quote) jumped 38.5% with a favorable ruling on a motion in its patent-infringement lawsuit against Applera(ABI Quote). Another holding, Nektar Therapeutics(NKTR Quote) popped 21.6% on news of a drug development partnership with Bayer(BAY Quote).

The second-best health and biotech fund this week is the HealthShares Metabolic-Endocrine Disorders(HHM Quote). This exchange-traded fund that invests in stocks treating diabetes, growth deficiency and obesity had an impressive return of 7.1%.

The best stock in this fund's portfolio was Tercica(TRCA Quote), up 35.3% on announcing the European Commission's marketing authorization for Increlex. The "orphan" designation the drug won gives the company 10 years of exclusive marketing and a $20 million milestone payment under a licensing agreement with Ipsen.

Best-Performing Health & Biotech Funds Ranked by returns for the week ending Aug. 9
Fund	Ticker	Rating	Fund Type	1 Week Total Return
HealthShares Autoimmune-Inflammation ETF	HHA	U	ETF	7.72%
HealthShares Metabolic-Endocrine Disorders ETF	HHM	U	ETF	7.10%
SPDR S&P Biotech ETF	XBI	C-	ETF	5.69%
Healthshares Cardiology Devices ETF	HHE	U	ETF	5.11%
HealthShares Respiratory/Pulmonary ETF	HHR	U	ETF	5.06%
HealthShares Enabling Technologies ETF	HHV	U	ETF	5.04%
HealthShares Emerging Cancer ETF	HHJ	U	ETF	4.96%
HealthShares Cancer ETF	HHK	U	ETF	4.35%
Manning & Napier - Life Sciences Series Fund	EXLSX	U	Open-End	4.24%
H&Q Healthcare Investors	HQH	U	Closed-End	3.21%
Source: Bloomberg

The loudest sneeze this week came from the Gabelli Global Healthcare & WellnessRx Trust(GRX Quote), blowing off 7.2% of the value from the closed-end shares. With an inception date of June 28, 2007, the fund plans to issue its first quarterly report, hopefully with holdings data, in the fourth quarter of this year.

PowerShares tracked the performance of the Dynamic Healthcare Services Intellidex Index to a loss of 4.2% with its ETF, the PowerShares Dynamic Healthcare Services Portfolio(PTJ Quote). Of the 30 holdings, the biggest declines were felt in Medcath(MDTH Quote), which lost 18.7%, Emergency Medical Services(EMS Quote), which fell 18.1%, and Apria Healthcare Group(AHG Quote), which sank 13.8%.

Worst-Performing Health & Biotech Funds Ranked by returns for the week ending Aug. 9
Fund	Ticker	Rating	Fund Type	1 Week Total Return
Gabelli Global Healthcare & WellnessRx Trust	GRX	U	Closed-End	-7.18%
PowerShares Dynamic Healthcare Services Portfolio	PTJ	U	ETF	-4.24%
PowerShares Dynamic Healthcare Sector Portfolio	PTH	U	ETF	-3.37%
iShares DJ US Health Care Providers Index Fund	IHF	B	ETF	-3.19%
Schwab Health Care Fund	SWHFX	B-	Open-End	-2.96%
ICON Healthcare Fund	ICHCX	E+	Open-End	-2.58%
Blackrock Health Sciences Trust	BME	C	Closed-End	-2.21%
Fidelity Select Medical Delivery Portfolio	FSHCX	B-	Open-End	-2.08%
Powershares Dynamic Pharmaceuticals Portfolio	PJP	B-	ETF	-1.80%
SPDR S&P Pharmaceuticals ETF	XPH	C	ETF	-1.78%
Source: Bloomberg

On Friday, the Food and Drug Administration turned down Wyeth's(WYE Quote) experimental antipsychotic pill of bifeprunox for schizophrenia. Wyeth feels that its pill is better since it does not cause weight gain. However, part of that may be due to the side effect of nausea.

In the end, the FDA believes that market traders furiously buying one day and panic selling the next would be better served by the more effective schizophrenia treatments of Eli Lilly's(LLY Quote) Zyprexa and Johnson & Johnson's(JNJ Quote) Risperdal.