XShares Advisors

XShares Advisors was a financial services firm that specialized in the development and management of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) with a primary focus on the healthcare and life sciences sectors. The company is best known for its 'HealthShares' series, which consisted of over 20 ETFs designed to provide targeted exposure to specific therapeutic areas such as cardiology, neuroscience, dermatology, and infectious diseases. Unlike broad healthcare indices, XShares utilized a vertically integrated indexing approach to capture niche segments of the biotechnology and medical device markets. Although the firm was a pioneer in thematic healthcare investing, most of its HealthShares ETFs were liquidated or delisted by 2010 due to low trading volumes and the impact of the global financial crisis. In 2014, the company's assets and management platform were acquired by WBI Investments.