Bestinvest says
Framlington's Healthcare team has experienced a number of team changes, since the highly experienced Antony Milford, the founding member of the Healthcare team and this fund took a step back from daily fund management in 2005. We removed the fund from the recommended list in April 2011 when Deane Donnigan, who had appeared to be a good successor to Milford announced her departure from the company. Those investors looking to capitalise on the long term benefits of investing in the healthcare sector should consider Worldwide Healthcare IT, an investment trust managed by the US based healthcare investment firm, OrbiMed.
Investment is across several sub-sectors: producers of pharmaceuticals, biotechnology firms, medical services, medical device and instrument manufacturers, distributors of healthcare products, care providers and managers and other healthcare service companies. The investment universe comprises more than 1,000 companies, mostly small-cap and based in the USA. Larger pharmaceuticals are also present in the portfolio, sometimes for defensive reasons. This fund differs from the sister biotech fund in having more tools and devices companies, fewer one-compound-only biotech firms. In terms of individual stock selection the process places a high emphasis on qualitative issues as opposed to pure number crunching. This includes an assessment of management experience, i.e: have they brought drugs to the FDA before, do they have a track record of bringing products through the development phase, have they experience of raising money on the capital markets. The Healthcare team also draws on a large consultant network that it has built over the years for feedback on proposed drug profiles etc. The team also attend healthcare/pharmaceutical conferences to help them assess new ideas. Companies targeted are those that are perceived to have a higher probability of achieving their hurdle rates and are trading at attractive relative valuations, compared to other operations at similar stages in their development.