Strategy. Under normal market conditions, the Fund will invest not less than 80% of its assets in component securities of the Underlying Index. The Underlying Index seeks to track the performance of the common stock of U.S. exchange-listed biotechnology companies with at least one drug therapy approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ) for marketing. The Underlying Index is sponsored by LifeSci Index Partners, LLC (the Index Provider ). The Index Provider utilizes a selection committee comprised of its employees (the Index Committee ) that is responsible, pursuant to the rules included in the methodology for the Underlying Index, for making certain determinations for the Underlying Index, as more fully described below. The Index Committee utilizes various … Show more… Under normal market conditions, the Fund will invest not less than 80% of its assets in component securities of the Underlying Index. The Underlying Index seeks to track the performance of the common stock of U.S. exchange-listed biotechnology companies with at least one drug therapy approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ) for marketing. The Underlying Index is sponsored by LifeSci Index Partners, LLC (the Index Provider ). The Index Provider utilizes a selection committee comprised of its employees (the Index Committee ) that is responsible, pursuant to the rules included in the methodology for the Underlying Index, for making certain determinations for the Underlying Index, as more fully described below. The Index Committee utilizes various public data sources to make determinations, including, but not limited to, Securities and Exchange Commission ( SEC ) filings, public documents from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ), company press releases and official corporate websites. What is a Biotechnology Company ? The Index Provider defines a biotechnology company as one whose primary business (i.e., the source of all or a majority of the companys revenue) is the research and development and/or marketing and sale of novel drugs or other therapeutics used in the treatment of human diseases. Excluded Companies. Pursuant to the methodology for the Underlying Index, the Index Committee must exclude from the Underlying Index companies that are not pure biotechnology companies because they are classified, based on publicly available information, within one of the following 12 distinct sub-industries of the Biotechnology subsector: Animal Health, Diversified Healthcare, Investment Management, Healthcare Services, Non-Healthcare, Large Pharmaceuticals, Specialty Pharmaceuticals, Medical Devices, Vaccines, Nutraceuticals, OTC Healthcare, or Tools ( Excluded Companies ). Companies with a primary product offering or product candidate ( lead drug ) still in preclinical testing or research stage, prior to entering into human clinical trials, are also excluded from the Underlying Index. The methodology for the Underlying Index requires the Index Committee to determine a companys lead drug based on publicly available information. While other existing biotechnology index products may include many of the Excluded Companies, the Index Provider believes that by excluding them, the Underlying Index will more accurately capture the performance of traditional biotechnology companies. The Underlying Index. To initially be considered for the Underlying Index, a security must have the following characteristics ( Initial Index Criteria ): Security : Common Stock Primary Exchange : United States Sector : Classified according to the Industry Classification Benchmark (ICB) as Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology Market Capitalization : $500 million or more 6-Month Average Daily Trading Volume : $2 million or more 1-Month Average Daily Trading Volume : $1 million or more Seasoning Period of IPOs and New Issues : 3 months Corporate Activity : issuer may not currently be in bankruptcy proceedings or have entered into a definitive agreement or other arrangement which would likely result in the security no longer being eligible. The Underlying Index then excludes each issuer meeting the Initial Index Criteria that is an Excluded Company. The methodology for the Underlying Index then requires the Index Provider to determine, based on publicly available information, the appropriate categorization of each of the remaining issuers based on the issuers lead drug: Product Stage : The lead drug of these companies has received FDA approval. Clinical Trial Stage : The lead drug of these companies is in a Phase 1, Phase 2 or Phase 3 clinical trial stage of development. Pre-Clinical Trial Stage : The lead drug of these companies is in its pre-clinical trial stage of development. The methodology for the Underlying Index then requires the Index Provider to select for inclusion in the Underlying Index only the common stock of those remaining issuers with a lead drug determined to be in the Product Stage. As of December 31, 2025, the Underlying Index contained the common stock of 63 components. The Index Provider reconstitutes the Underlying Index semi-annually, upon the open of the first trading days after June 15 and December 15 of each year, with equal weightings among all constituent securities. A security may be removed from the Underlying Index prior to a scheduled reconstitution if, for any consecutive 60-day period, the securitys market capitalization falls below $50 million and the securitys minimum 6-month average daily trading volume falls below $500,000, or if the securitys issuer has entered into a definitive merger or acquisition agreement or has filed for bankruptcy. The Fund is generally reconstituted and rebalanced in accordance with the Underlying Index. The Underlying Index is calculated and published daily by Indxx, LLC, which is not affiliated with the Fund, the Index Provider or Virtus Investment Advisers, LLC, the Funds investment adviser (the Adviser or VIA). The Fund will not seek to beat the performance of the Underlying Index and will not seek temporary defensive measures when markets decline or appear overvalued. Instead, the Fund uses a passive or indexing investment approach to try to approximate the investment performance of the Underlying Index by investing in a portfolio of securities that generally replicates the Underlying Index; however, there may be times when the Fund does not hold every security in the Underlying Index. The Adviser expects that, over time, the correlation between the Funds performance, before fees and expenses, and that of the Underlying Index will be 95% or better. A figure of 100% would indicate perfect correlation. Under normal market conditions, the Fund will invest not less than 80% of its net assets (plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in securities of biotechnology companies. The Fund concentrates its investments (i.e., invests more than 25% of its total assets) in the securities of issuers engaged primarily in the biotechnology industry. Show less