In a year scarred by the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, Candriam's equities oncology impact fund outperformed its benchmark and grew its overall assets under management to $630 million.

Candriam's oncology fund institutional class shares delivered a positive return of 9.15% over the first five months of 2020. By comparison, the MSCI World 35 Healthcare index, its benchmark, returned 1.89% over the same period, according to figures provided by Candriam.

In April, Rudi Van Den Eynde, head of thematic global equity at Candriam, told Environmental Finance that Candriam's sustainability-themed oncology and biotechnology-funds had outperformed broader indexes in the immediate response to the pandemic, largely due to being underweight in energy stocks, which have been negatively affected by a drastic decline in transport and extreme variations in the oil price.

The fund claims to provide its investors with 'double positive impact': through investing in cancer treatments and medicine, and through the donation by Candriam of 10% of the fund management fees to cancer research.

A Candriam note adds that the fallout from the pandemic "reminds us not only of the risk to our overall population, but how many of our family members are immune-compromised or vulnerable. In addition, treatments for cancer patients are not likely to be abruptly stopped and rare diseases will continue to receive maximum attention".

Van Den Eynde added: "This [pandemic] is something that puts the sector in focus again, in that it shows healthcare is not a luxury.

"The world now has a wake-up call, that healthcare systems need to be equipped with modern equipment, especially in screening and diagnosis." EF