iShares Healthcare Innovation UCITS ETF (Acc) (HEAL.L)
Own a tiny slice of global companies pushing the boundaries of medical technology and biotech with a single purchase.
Is iShares Healthcare Innovation UCITS ETF (Acc) a good fund for a UK beginner?
The honest version: Own a tiny slice of global companies pushing the boundaries of medical technology and biotech with a single purchase.
Over about 2 years to 2026-07-15. This already includes the fund's dividends, which an accumulating fund reinvests for you. And it's the USD return - as a UK investor your actual £ return also moves with the exchange rate. Past performance is not a guide to the future, and it could just as easily have fallen.
This is a fund, so it moves with its whole basket (Thematic) - not any single company's news. One share having a bad day barely shows up here.
What does iShares Healthcare Innovation UCITS ETF (Acc) do?
The moment you own a unit of this fund, your money is spread across global businesses working on breakthroughs in healthcare like Moderna and AbbVie, following the iSTOXX FactSet Breakthrough Healthcare index. It charges an ongoing fee of 0.4% a year, which means about £4.00 annually for every £1,000 you have in the fund. Any dividends generated by these companies are automatically reinvested inside the fund, helping your investment grow without you needing to lift a finger.
Holds global companies focused on innovation in healthcare such as medical technology and biotech; a narrow theme that can be volatile.
What's actually inside this fund?
Its 10 biggest holdings
- 1Moderna Inc2.0%
- 2Roivant Sciences Ltd Ordinary Shares1.7%
- 3Natera Inc1.7%
- 4Guardant Health Inc1.6%
- 5AbbVie Inc1.5%
- 6Genmab AS1.5%
- 7Illumina Inc1.5%
- 8Lonza Group Ltd1.5%
- 9Biogen Inc1.5%
- 10Merck & Co Inc1.5%
The top 10 add up to about 16% of the fund. The rest is spread thinly across the fund's many other holdings.
By sector
- Healthcare98%
- Technology1%
- Industrials0%
- Financials0%
- Real estate0%
- Materials0%
Top holdings and sector split from the fund's published data as of the figures date - they drift over time as the fund and the index change.
- Simple one-fund exposure to global healthcare innovation
- Spreads your money across dozens of specialized biotech and medical technology companies
- Automatically reinvests dividends to compound your investment
- It falls when the healthcare and biotech markets fall
- A narrow theme focused purely on medical innovation that can be quite volatile
- Currency swings for a UK investor since the underlying global companies are based abroad
More in Thematic
iShares Automation & Robotics UCITS ETF (Acc)
iShares Digital Security UCITS ETF (Acc)
iShares Nasdaq US Biotechnology UCITS ETF (Acc)
iShares Global Clean Energy UCITS ETF (Dist)
iShares Electric Vehicles and Driving Technology UCITS ETF (Acc)
iShares Global Water UCITS ETF (Dist)
VanEck Defense UCITS ETF (Acc)What are the pros and cons of iShares Healthcare Innovation UCITS ETF (Acc)?
How many points the write-up makes each way — a balance check, not a score or verdict.
- Simple one-fund exposure to global healthcare innovation
- Spreads your money across dozens of specialized biotech and medical technology companies
- Automatically reinvests dividends to compound your investment
- It falls when the healthcare and biotech markets fall
- A narrow theme focused purely on medical innovation that can be quite volatile
- Currency swings for a UK investor since the underlying global companies are based abroad
Built from public filings & market prices, checked for an education-only tone, and never a price target. How we make these →
This plain-English summary was auto-generated on 2026-08-01 from public data and checked for an education-only, no-advice tone (the figures above carry their own, usually fresher, 'as of' date). It's information, never a recommendation.