Funds for a COVID-19 vaccine

While the pandemic has negatively impacted the earnings of the majority of companies there are those looking to profit from COVID-19. Hundreds of companies and research centres worldwide are racing to produce a coronavirus vaccine or treatment. Those companies that succeed will profit handsomely. This hasn’t passed investors by with speculative bets being placed on individual stocks (of companies researching a vaccine) in the hope of getting a big-ticket win in what feels increasingly like a COVID-19 vaccine lottery.

Take Gilead Sciences for example. The company’s stock price has been on a rollercoaster of a ride since the pandemic. Back in April the publication of a promising report about the company’s antiviral drug tests used for treating COVID-19 saw its share price rocket 12% in a single day.

By mid-April Gilead Sciences’ share price had rallied 35% from its January low, compared with a fall of 14% for the S&P 500 over the same period. Perhaps it should be unsurprising that the Healthcare Sector is the 4th best performing sector in the S&P 500, out of 11, year to date.

However investing in single stocks, especially of smaller biotechnology companies, is highly risky. Again, the fortunes of Gilead Sciences reflect this, having fallen by more than 20% since its April high after the previous euphoria turned out to be misplaced. While making speculative investments in individual stocks is not advisable is it possible to try and take advantage of the theme and potentially profit from a COVID-19 vaccine by investing via funds.

So in this article I have analysed over 1,200 unit trusts to ascertain their exposure to the following well-known companies, all of which are developing either a vaccine or treatment for COVID-19.

Amgen

Amgen has expertise in novel antibody therapy development. Earlier this year Amgen began development of a treatment for those already suffering from COVID-19 as well as a preventative vaccine for COVID-19.

GlaxoSmithKline & Sanofi

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is one of the best-known names in pharmaceuticals, and the company joined forces with Sanofi in a bid to create a COVID-19 vaccine. At the end of July, the UK government signed a deal, with both companies, securing up to 60 million doses of their experimental treatment. Around the same time, Sanofi announced an agreement with the US government valued at $2.1 billion to supply 100 million doses of the experimental coronavirus vaccine.

AstraZeneca

AstraZeneca is developing a Covid-19 treatment and vaccine with the University of Oxford which are now being used in large-scale clinical studies. This week Donald Trump expressed a wish to allow the AstraZeneca vaccine to bypass the normal US regulation in order to fast-track the drug and boost his election chances. AstraZeneca has rejected the offer.

Pfizer

The American pharmaceuticals company is attempting to co-develop an mRNA-based vaccine with German company BioNTech that prevents COVID-19. At the end of July Pfizer announced that it is moving onto Phase 3 of its vaccine development, with trials on 30,000 volunteers.

Johnsons & Johnson

Johnson & Johnson, is developing a COVID-19 vaccine with the US government's Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). Phase 3 of its vaccine development is due to start in September

Funds with the highest 'vaccine' exposure

For this research piece, I analysed over 1,200 unit trusts to arrive at the shortlists below. In time I may look to include some investment trust or ETF examples too.

The first table below shows the funds with the highest total exposure to any of the 6 companies while the subsequent tables show the funds with the greatest exposure to each company in turn.

Fund	Sector	AstraZeneca %	GSK %	Amgen %	Johnson & Johnson %	Pfizer %	Sanofi %	Total exposure %
Threadneedle - UK Equity Income	UK Equity Income	10.9	7.3					18.2
Threadneedle - UK Equity Alpha Income	UK Equity Income	10.3	7.3					17.6
AXA - Framlington UK Equity Income	UK Equity Income	8.35	7.63					15.98
Threadneedle - UK Growth and Income	UK All Companies	9.8	5.8					15.6
BNY Mellon - Equity Income Booster	UK Equity Income	8.67	5.85					14.52
BNY Mellon - Equity Income	UK Equity Income	8.76	5.68					14.44
L&G - Future World Gender in Leadership UK Index	UK All Companies	7.9	6.2					14.1
BMO - UK Equity Income	UK Equity Income	8	5.9					13.9
Sarasin - Fund for Charities - Thematic UK Equity	UK All Companies	7.9	5.6					13.5
Threadneedle - Monthly Extra Income	UK Equity & Bond Income	8.3	5.2					13.5
Fidelity - Moneybuilder Dividend	UK Equity Income	8.39	4.95					13.34
SUTL - Cazenove Charity Equity Income	UK Equity Income	4.86	8.48					13.34
Schroder - Core UK Equity	UK All Companies	5.73	7.51					13.24
Sarasin - UK Equity	UK Equity Income	7.8	5.4					13.2
BMO - Responsible UK Income	UK All Companies	7.5	5.5					13
BMO - Select UK Equity	UK All Companies	7.5	5.4					12.9
LGIM - PMC Future World UK Equity Index	UK All Companies	7.24	5.39					12.63
iShares - 100 UK Equity Index (UK)	UK All Companies	7.46	5.03					12.49
L&G - Future World ESG UK Index	UK All Companies	6.8	5.6					12.4
L&G - Global Health & Pharmaceuticals Index Trust	Global			2.5	6.6	3.2		12.3

Funds with the highest exposure to AstraZeneca

Fund	Sector	AstraZeneca %	GSK %	Amgen %	Johnson & Johnson %	Pfizer %	Sanofi 5	Total %
Threadneedle - UK Equity Income	UK Equity Income	10.9	7.3					18.2
Threadneedle - UK Equity Alpha Income	UK Equity Income	10.3	7.3					17.6
Threadneedle - UK Growth and Income	UK All Companies	9.8	5.8					15.6
L&G - Ethical Trust	UK All Companies	9.7						9.7
BNY Mellon - Equity Income	UK Equity Income	8.76	5.68					14.44

Funds with the highest exposure to Glaxosmithkline

Fund	Sector	AstraZeneca %	GSK %	Amgen %	Johnson & Johnson %	Pfizer %	Sanofi 5	Total %
Schroder - UK Alpha Income	UK Equity Income		8.94					8.94
SUTL - Cazenove Charity Equity Income	UK Equity Income	4.86	8.48					13.34
Threadneedle - UK Monthly Income	UK Equity Income		8					8
AXA - Framlington UK Equity Income	UK Equity Income	8.35	7.63					15.98
Schroder - Core UK Equity	UK All Companies	5.73	7.51					13.24

Funds with the highest exposure to Amgen

Fund	Sector	AstraZeneca %	GSK %	Amgen %	Johnson & Johnson %	Pfizer %	Sanofi %	Total %
AXA - Framlington Biotech	Specialist			6.95				6.95
SJP - North American	North America			3.67				3.67
Liontrust - Global Income	Global Equity Income			3.63				3.63
Schroder - Global Healthcare	Global			3.51			3.25	6.76
L&G - Global Health & Pharmaceuticals Index Trust	Global			2.5	6.6	3.2		12.3

Funds with the highest exposure to Johnson & Johnson

Fund	Sector	AstraZeneca %	GSK %	Amgen %	Johnson & Johnson %	Pfizer %	Sanofi %	Total %
L&G - Global Health & Pharmaceuticals Index Trust	Global			2.5	6.6	3.2		12.3
Huntress - IFSL Ravenscroft Huntress Global Blue Chip	Global				3.8		4.44	8.24
Jupiter - Global Equity Income	Global Equity Income				3.66			3.66
M&G - North American Value	North America				3.5	3.2		6.7
Threadneedle - US Equity Income	North America				3.4			3.4

Funds with the highest exposure to Pfizer

Fund	Sector	AstraZeneca %	GSK %	Amgen %	Johnson & Johnson %	Pfizer %	Sanofi %	Total %
Fidelity - American Special Situations	North America					4.67		4.67
L&G - Global Health & Pharmaceuticals Index Trust	Global			2.5	6.6	3.2		12.3
M&G - North American Value	North America				3.5	3.2		6.7
Fidelity - Global Enhanced Income	Global Equity Income					3.08		3.08
Fidelity - Global Dividend	Global Equity Income					3		3

Funds with the highest exposure to Sanofi

Fund	Sector	AstraZeneca %	GSK %	Amgen %	Johnson & Johnson %	Pfizer %	Sanofi %	Total %
Invesco - European Opportunities (UK)	Europe Excluding UK						5.99	5.99
Invesco - European Equity Income (UK)	Europe Excluding UK						5.7	5.7
Invesco - European Equity (UK)	Europe Excluding UK						4.95	4.95
MI - Metropolis Value	Global						4.79	4.79
Schroder - Responsible Value UK Equity	UK All Companies		4.62				4.63	9.25