Active Management Risk. The Fund is actively managed, which means that investment decisions are made based on investment views. There is no guarantee that the investment views will produce the desired results or expected returns, which may cause the Fund to fail to meet its investment objective or to underperform its benchmark index or funds with similar investment objectives and strategies. Furthermore, active trading that can accompany active management may result in high portfolio turnover, which may have a negative impact on performance. Active trading may result in higher brokerage costs or mark-up charges, which are ultimately passed on to shareholders of the Fund. Active trading may also result in adverse tax consequences.

Common Stock Risk. Common stock holds the lowest priority in the capital structure of a company, and, therefore, takes the largest share of the company’s risk and its accompanying volatility. The value of the common stock held by the Fund may fall due to general market and economic conditions, perceptions regarding the industries in which the issuers of securities held by the Fund participate, or facts relating to specific companies in which the Fund invests.

Cybersecurity and Disaster Recovery Risks. Information and technology systems relied upon by the Fund, the Adviser, the Fund’s other service providers (including, but not limited to, the Fund Accountant, Custodian, Transfer Agent, Administrator and Distributor), market makers, Authorized Participants, financial intermediaries and/or the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests may be vulnerable to damage or interruption from computer viruses, network failures, computer and telecommunication failures, infiltration by unauthorized persons, security breaches, usage errors, power outages and catastrophic events such as fires, tornadoes, floods, hurricanes and earthquakes. Although the Adviser and the Fund’s other service providers have implemented measures to manage risks relating to these types of events, if these systems are compromised, become inoperable for extended periods of time or cease to function properly, significant investment may be required to fix or replace them. The failure of these systems and/or of disaster recovery plans could cause significant interruptions in the operations of the Fund, the Adviser, the Fund’s other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants, financial intermediaries and/or issuers of securities in which the Fund invests and may result in a failure to maintain the security, confidentiality or privacy of sensitive data, impact the Fund’s ability to calculate its NAV or impede trading.

Developed Country Risk. The Fund’s investments in developed country issuers subject the Fund to legal, regulatory, political, currency, security, economic, and other risks associated with developed countries. Developed countries tend to represent a significant portion of the global economy and have generally experienced slower economic growth than some less developed countries. Certain developed countries have experienced security concerns, such as war, terrorism, and strained international relations. Incidents involving a country’s or region’s security may cause uncertainty in its markets and may adversely affect its economy and the Fund’s investments. In addition, developed countries may be adversely impacted by changes in the economic conditions of key trading partners, regulatory burdens, debt levels, and the price or availability of certain commodities.

Early Close/Trading Halt Risk. An exchange or market may close or issue trading halts on specific securities, or the ability to buy or sell certain securities or financial instruments may be restricted, which may result in the Fund being unable to buy or sell certain securities or financial instruments. In such circumstances, the Fund may be unable to rebalance its portfolio, may be unable to accurately price its investments and/or may incur substantial trading losses.

Fluctuation of Net Asset Value Risk. The NAV of the Fund’s shares will generally fluctuate with changes in the market value of the Fund’s holdings. The market prices of the shares will generally fluctuate in accordance with changes in NAV as well as the relative supply of and demand for shares on NASDAQ Stock Market LLC (the “Exchange”). The Adviser cannot predict whether the shares will trade below, at or above their NAV. The Fund’s market price may deviate from the value of its underlying portfolio holdings, particularly in times of market stress, with the result that investors may pay significantly more or receive significantly less than the underlying value of the Fund shares bought or sold. This can be reflected as a spread between the bid and ask prices for the Fund quoted during the day or a premium or discount in the closing price from the Fund’s NAV. In addition, transactions by large shareholders may account for a large percentage of the trading volume on the Exchange and may, therefore, have a material effect on the market price of the Fund’s shares.

Foreign Securities Risk. Investments in securities (including ADRs and GDRs) of foreign issuers involve risks not ordinarily associated with investments in securities and instruments of U.S. issuers. The values of foreign investments may be affected by changes in exchange control regulations, application of foreign tax laws (including withholding tax) changes in governmental administration or economic or monetary policy (in this country or abroad) or changed circumstances in dealings between nations. The value of foreign securities is also affected by the value of the local currency relative to the U.S. Dollar. GDRs may be other than dollar denominated and may be issued in several countries.

Chinese Securities Risk. A portion of the Fund’s assets may be invested in companies exposed to China. Risks affecting investments in China include a potential downturn in the Chinese economy, reduced liquidity or increased price volatility in the Chinese securities markets as a result of trading suspensions affecting Chinese issuers or other factors, the potential that the Chinese government may expand restrictions on foreign investments or the repatriation of capital, and the implementation of new tariffs or other trade barriers by China or its trading partners. A lack of transparency respecting Chinese companies may also reduce the Fund’s ability to conduct diligence respecting those companies’ accounting and governance standards, which may in turn reduce the Fund’s ability to detect fraudulent practices that may adversely affect the companies’ stock prices.

Japanese Securities Risk. Because a portion of the assets of the Fund may be invested in Japanese securities, the Fund’s performance may be tied to the political, social and economic conditions within Japan. The Japanese economy has at times in the past been negatively affected by government intervention and protectionism, a deflationary macroeconomic environment, a heavy reliance on international trade and natural disasters. These factors, as well as an aging population, increases in government debt and changes to fiscal, monetary, or trade policies, may affect Japanese markets and the Fund’s performance. As such, the Fund’s performance may be more volatile than the performance of funds that are more geographically diverse.

Industry Concentration Risk. Because the Fund’s assets will be concentrated in an industry or group of industries, the Fund is subject to loss due to adverse occurrences that may affect that industry or group of industries.

Biotechnology Industry Risk. The biotechnology industry can be significantly affected by patent considerations, including the impairment and termination of patent protections for products such as products designed to treat diabetes, heart diseases and/or diseases related to metabolic health issues, intense competition both domestically and internationally, rapid technological change and obsolescence and government regulation. In addition, the biotechnology industry is an emerging growth industry, and therefore biotechnology companies may be thinly capitalized and more volatile than companies with greater capitalizations. Biotechnology companies must contend with high development costs, which may be exacerbated by the inability to raise prices to cover costs because of managed care pressure, government regulation or price controls.

Pharmaceutical Company Risk. Companies in the pharmaceutical industry are heavily dependent on patent protection. The expiration of patents may adversely affect the profitability of the companies. Pharmaceutical companies are also subject to extensive litigation based on product liability and other similar claims. Many new products are subject to approval of the Food and Drug Administration, a process that can be long and costly. Expanding international operations may lead to risks resulting from differences between U.S. and foreign legal, political and economic systems, regulatory regimes and market practices. 

Issuer-Specific Risk. Fund performance depends on the performance of individual securities to which the Fund has exposure. Issuer-specific events, including changes in the financial condition of an issuer, can have a negative impact on the value of the Fund.

Market Risk and Selection Risk. The prices of securities held by the Fund may decline in response to certain events taking place around the world, including those directly involving the companies whose securities are owned by the Fund; conditions affecting the general economy; overall market changes; local, regional or global political, social or economic instability; and currency, interest rate and commodity price fluctuations. The equity securities purchased by the Fund may involve large price swings and potential for loss. Investors in the Fund should have a long-term perspective and be able to tolerate potentially sharp declines in value. The market’s daily movements, sometimes called volatility, may be greater or less depending on the types of securities the Fund owns and the markets in which the securities trade. The increasing interconnectivity between global economies and financial markets increases the likelihood that events or conditions in one region or financial market may adversely impact issuers in a different country, region or financial market. Securities in the Fund’s portfolio may underperform due to inflation (or expectations for inflation), interest rates, global demand for particular products or resources, climate change or climate related risks, natural disasters, pandemics, epidemics, war, terrorism, regulatory events, governmental or quasi-governmental actions, and public health emergencies. The occurrence of global events similar to those in recent years, such as terrorist attacks around the world, natural disasters, social and political discord or debt crises and downgrades, among others, may result in market volatility and may have long term effects on both the U.S. and global financial markets.

National Closed Market Trading Risk. To the extent that securities or other assets held by the Fund trade on foreign exchanges or in foreign markets that may be closed when the securities exchange on which the Fund’s shares trade is open, there are likely to be deviations between such asset’s current price and its last quoted price (i.e., the quote from the closed foreign market to the Fund). The impact of a closed foreign market on the Fund is likely to be greater where a large portion of the Fund’s holdings trade on a closed foreign market or when a foreign market is closed for unscheduled reasons. These deviations could result in premiums or discounts to the Fund’s NAV that may be greater than those experienced by other funds.

Operational Risk. The Fund is exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund’s service providers, counterparties or other third parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund seeks to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address significant operational risks.

Proprietary Infrastructure Risk. The success of the Fund’s investment strategy depends in part on the ability of the companies in which it invests to maintain proprietary technology used in their products and services. Companies in which the Fund invests will rely, in part, on patent, trade secret and trademark law to protect that technology, but competitors may misappropriate their intellectual property, and disputes as to ownership of intellectual property may arise. Consequently, companies in which the Fund invests may, from time to time, be required to institute litigation in order to enforce their patents, copyrights or other intellectual property rights, to protect their trade secrets, to determine the validity and scope of the proprietary rights of others or to defend against claims of infringement. Such litigation could result in substantial costs and diversion of resources. Similarly, if a company is found to infringe upon or misappropriate a third-party’s patent or other proprietary rights, that company could be required to pay damages to such third-party, alter its own products or processes, obtain a license from the third-party and/or cease activities utilizing such proprietary rights, including making or selling products utilizing such proprietary rights.

Healthcare Sector Risk. To the extent the Fund focuses on the healthcare sector, the Fund may be more susceptible to the particular risks that may affect companies in the healthcare sector than if it were invested in a wider variety of companies in unrelated sectors. The profitability of companies in the healthcare sector may be adversely affected by the following factors, among others: extensive government regulations, restrictions on government reimbursement for medical expenses, rising costs of medical products and services, pricing pressure, an increased emphasis on outpatient services, changes in the demand for medical products and services, a limited number of products, industry innovation, changes in technologies and other market developments. The expiration of a company’s patents may adversely affect that company’s profitability. Healthcare companies are subject to competitive forces that may make it difficult to raise prices and, in fact, may result in price discounting. Many new products in the healthcare sector may be subject to regulatory approvals. The process of obtaining such approvals may be long and costly, and such efforts ultimately may be unsuccessful. Companies in the healthcare sector may be thinly capitalized and may be susceptible to product obsolescence.

Securities Lending Risk. Although the Fund will receive collateral in connection with all loans of its securities holdings, the Fund would be exposed to a risk of loss should a borrower default on its obligation to return the borrowed securities (e.g., the loaned securities may have appreciated beyond the value of the collateral held by the Fund). In addition, the Fund will bear the risk of loss of any cash collateral that it invests.

Valuation Risk. The price the Fund could receive upon the sale of a security or other asset may differ from the Fund’s valuation of the security or other asset, particularly for securities or other assets that trade in low volume or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology as a result of trade suspensions or for other reasons.

Non-Diversified Fund Risk. The Fund is a non-diversified investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “1940 Act”), meaning that, as compared to a diversified fund, it can invest a greater percentage of its assets in securities issued by or representing a small number of issuers. As a result, the performance of these issuers can have a substantial impact on the Fund’s performance.