A Life-Changing Drug That's Completely Under the Radar

The costs of epidemics... The U.S. obesity rate has tripled... A life-changing drug that's completely under the radar... Drive-through traffic jams in the 'digital future'... 'The pick of the decade'... Dave Lashmet's '20X weight-loss drug' prediction...

Pandemics start as epidemics...

We need to start with a vocabulary refresher to make a point today. By definition, an epidemic is a sudden rise in cases of something...

For instance, when the COVID-19 outbreak started this winter in Wuhan, China, it was first labeled as an epidemic because the number of growing cases were relatively isolated to one region of the country.

Only on March 11 did the World Health Organization ("WHO") describe the disease as a pandemic because by then, it had spread to several other countries, like Italy and Iran, which were "struggling to find a solution to the problem," as we reported that day.

But the epidemic label isn't exclusive to the obvious contagious diseases. That's often what we think of when we hear the word, but the idea applies to so much more of what happens in our daily lives...

Like opioid overdoses... the plain old flu during many other years... texting-while-driving accidents... mosquito-borne outbreaks... or obesity... These are all epidemics.

And they all cost somebody something, directly or indirectly...

The costs of epidemics take the form of pain and death, missed workdays, and destroyed property. In the case of obesity, it also costs a lot of money and economic productivity for our country.

The obesity epidemic in the U.S. has led to the death of 10 times more Americans as COVID-19 has this year. Nearly 40% of the U.S. population is now clinically obese. That's double the percentage of just 10 years ago.

Obesity-related illness account for an estimated $190 billion in health care costs, nearly 21% of annual medical spending in the U.S. Childhood obesity costs are in the range of $14 billion alone.

But this epidemic – while sobering and real and glaring – also provides the context for one of the most exciting investment opportunities we've heard about this year... and that includes COVID-19 vaccines.

It comes from our Stansberry Venture Technology editor Dave Lashmet.

As many readers know, Dave is an expert medical and technology analyst, researcher, and inventor for 30 years and the first analyst our founder Porter Stansberry hired more than two decades ago. (Porter was actually a student of Dave's back when Dave was a college professor.)

You've heard from Dave frequently in the Digest this year. On February 27, he notably sounded the alarm about COVID-19... And on June 29, we noted that he booked a 1,000%-plus return, the highest in Stansberry Research history. Two weeks later, he delivered subscribers a separate 777% return.

Longtime readers know Dave doesn't make many outrageous claims, either... And he has been pounding the table lately on a new opportunity...

It's the stock of a tiny, little-known pharmaceutical company, trading for less than $50 a share. This company controls a potential cure for the obesity epidemic. That's right, a cure that could be on its way to the public soon.

This may seem completely shocking or maybe unbelievable to many readers...

But that's precisely why it's such an exciting opportunity for investors...

You won't read about this company and this drug anywhere else for weeks most likely. But when it goes mainstream and you hear about an "obesity miracle drug"… you can bet investors will be pouring money into this stock.

Dave says the drug this company developed could be similar to the discovery of penicillin – the dawn of the antibiotic age – during World War II. It literally will change humankind forever...

No drug ever created in the world can do what this one can.

And, Dave says, early investors in the stock of this small company will be along for "one hell of a ride" that could beat the 1,000%-plus return Dave booked in 18 months on another small pharma company, Inovio Pharmaceuticals (INO).

The thing is, no one has noticed the huge potential of this new breakthrough drug...

COVID-19 is taking all the attention in the medical world these days.

But Dave has done the research, dating back four years. He's one of a handful of people outside this company's headquarters who are aware of what's going on and the nuances of this drug's development, approval process, and why the company has been so secretive about it.

But Dave says the secret will be out soon... This drug turns down our natural "hunger switch." It essentially gives you a higher metabolism. It's a potentially world-changing drug, and it's completely under the radar... but won't be for much longer.

That's why Dave recently rushed to put together a new video all about this opportunity and why he recommended the stock to his Venture Technology subscribers first late last week. He wrote...

For Wall Street bankers, hedge funds, and venture-capital firms, the real story – a potential $20 billion obesity drug – is hidden in plain sight... You can see this with your own due diligence.

Investors will make most of their money before this drug hits the mainstream headlines, and could make 50% in the near term and 20 times that in the next few years, which would be an all-time record for a Stansberry Research pick.

We talked to Dave on the phone about all this the other day, and we'll share much more from that discussion this weekend in our Masters Series, but just know that we were floored by this story, which he calls one of the biggest of his career.

If you want to know more right now, click here to hear more from Dave about how you can access this name, how he spotted this opportunity, and why this is truly the beginning of the end of obesity...

When we think about it, obesity is really a 'sustained' epidemic...

The rise in the number of obese Americans is far from "sudden." The numbers have been growing relentlessly for decades.

As Dave shared in a recent special report to Venture Technology subscribers, since the 1990s, the U.S. obesity rate has tripled, as you can see on these two maps...

True obesity affected about 10% of adults in 1990. Now it affects nearly 40% of adults. Obesity is the most rampant health problem in the U.S. today. And we can measure its growth easily.

The fact that the number of obese Americans – defined by a body mass index ("BMI") of 30 or higher – has gone up over the last 30 years probably doesn't surprise you, but the scale of the increase may.

At least 20% of the population of every state in America is overweight today. None were in 1995. And as Dave says...

Here's why this matters to the country and our economy: Obesity shortens lives. It stresses bones and hearts, brains and digestion. Plus, it complicates success for any other medical procedure, from surgery to infection control.

That goes for infections from COVID-19 or anything else. We don't exactly know all the science yet, but the "higher risk" group for COVID-19 includes tens of millions of overweight folks.

The market for a 'fix' for obesity is greater than most people can probably imagine...

Most of us know instinctively that it's smart to eat well, exercise to keep a healthy weight, even if we struggle to do it...

And collectively, having more obese people and fewer healthy ones means a less healthy, slower, and less efficient economy for a variety of reasons...

Obesity has been tied to 70 serious illnesses including diabetes, high blood pressure, and stroke... Carrying around extra weight shortens lifespans and results in a cascade of health woes...

But one of the most obvious problems it creates is greater costs to everyone for health care, which accounts for roughly 20% of our economy... And if government health care plans expand even more along with need, that only means more taxes (or institutional bankruptcy).

At this point, you might say, "OK, but we already have a fix for obesity. Just work out and don't eat bad food." True. Diets and exercise are a winning combination.

But then why are more and more people getting bigger and bigger? Dave has a few ideas, but these are the two big ones...

1) Mechanization. We Americans simply don't move as much as we once did, for a variety of reasons, like cars and trucks, for example.

At home and at the office, we might feel like we're always "doing something," but sitting in front of a computer or checking our phone does not count as movement when it comes to burning calories.

The pandemic has only added more tailwinds to this trend. The "Quarantine 15" – a label indicating weight gain during the pandemic – has been trending lately...

2) Addictive foods. Namely salt and sugar. These ingredients are prevalent in a Western diet and corporate marketing machines that sell addictive items are strong.

These are massive trends that have been changing America – one computer and one cheeseburger at a time – for decades, and centuries even, and they're not reversing.

Like for many things, prevention is probably the best medicine when it comes to maintaining a healthy weight.

But eating healthy and exercising regularly and proactively before you put on weight is hard. It's proven to be unrealistic for millions of adults over the years.

And if you're a kid and don't know any better and just eat what is put in front of you (and it's bad for you), you have little chance of not starting bad habits. Andrew Stokes, a professor at Boston University School of Public Health, put it this way...

There is a generation of children, 100 million globally, that will likely have to grapple their entire lives with weight-related disease.

Lifestyle changes could work too, like calorie counting. But again, that's hard, especially in a country with way more fast-food restaurants than gyms (if they're still open)...

Plus, it's hard to keep the weight off if you do manage to lose it.

Our economy and society often encourage failure when it comes to fighting obesity...

Take this story we saw the other day, for example...

During the pandemic, because of increased demand for contactless fast-food ordering, fast-food chain Taco Bell – a Yum! Brands (YUM) chain – is planning to build drive-thrus with two lanes, rather than one.

Here's a rendering of the plans from the chain for a "digital future"...

Apparently, there's drive-through traffic jams in the digital future... in pursuit of all the salty food. And of course, you only have to take a few steps from your home or office to the car to go buy it. I'm as guilty as anyone. I've seen a Taco Bell drive-thru or two in my day.

But this anecdote offers a clue as to why the weight-loss industry is a $636 billion one… and why you've likely seen promises about cures, the latest fad, or heard many other similar pitches for weight-loss products and plans over the years...

There's a definite need to combat obesity. It's one of our greatest health challenges today.

In fact, without a new development, this epidemic may reach a point of no return, Dave says. So, what is the weight-loss alternative to natural fixes like counting calories or other difficult behavioral changes?

The other option is drugs...

Dave says it's time for science and medicine to step in with the solution to fix the obesity epidemic... Nothing else has worked so far, and the numbers are getting worse.

But until now, drug developers have generally focused on treating the symptoms of obesity – diabetes, back pain, or clogged arteries – without considering the value of a drug that could reverse obesity.

That has changed recently. Yet as we said, nobody has heard about it yet.

The drug Dave has found represents a potential treatment for general obesity. Obese patients in a U.S. Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") trial of this drug lost 25% of their weight on average in 12 months and reported virtually no side effects.

Some of these results have already appeared in science journals, but no one outside of this company's executives and staff and maybe a few experts like Dave are aware of them.

In fact, one sentence in a 200-page document filed back in September 2017 with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") was Dave's clue for understanding that this new-age weight loss drug could be prescribed to as many as 70% of Americans one day.

As we said, longtime readers know Dave doesn't make bold claims lightly...

And they also know that his track record proves out his success...

One out of every three of Dave's stock picks for subscribers has at least doubled in price, including recently minted spots at the top of Stansberry's Hall of Fame in the last few months.

Now, Dave says that top-rated 1,139% win could look low compared with this latest find. He calls the stock we're talking about "the pick of the decade" because its discovery will fulfill a fantasy shared by nearly every American... and it could help us be a healthier nation as a whole.

The "buy" call on this virtually unknown drug company is a culmination of four years of work by Dave and his research team... and represents a stock at the center of what could be a world-changing breakthrough.

We urge you to listen to Dave's message before the opportunity passes by. Click here to watch right now. And to our Venture Technology subscribers and Stansberry Alliance partners... if you haven't already, be sure to check out this latest research right here.

Also note, this investment carries risk with it of course. This is a small company and you should consider position sizing and make sure you're not overexposed to any company as usual, but this one is more than worth a look.

It could be the beginning of the end of an epidemic.

Why Flying Matters to the Markets

Our Director of Research, Austin Root, discusses his recent experience flying in a COVID-19 world, and why travel is picking up nationwide.

Click here to watch this video right now. For more free video content, subscribe to our Stansberry Research YouTube channel... and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

New 52-week highs (as of 8/25/20): Amazon (AMZN), Alibaba (BABA), Expeditors International of Washington (EXPD), Alphabet (GOOGL), Innovative Industrial Properties (IIPR), JD.com (JD), NetEase (NTES), Flutter Entertainment (PDYPY), Procter & Gamble (PG), ProShares Ultra Technology Fund (ROM), Sea Limited (SE), Scotts Miracle-Gro (SMG), Vanguard S&P 500 Fund (VOO), and Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Index Fund (VTIP).

In today's mailbag, feedback on farmers fooling tigers with "painted eyes" on their cows, which Vic Lederman referenced in Tuesday's Digest... and more thoughts on Monday's Digest about the future of work... Do you have a comment or question? Send us an e-mail at feedback@stansberryresearch.com.

"Fooling predators with eyes is not new. Many years ago in India, people in an area where they could be attacked (by tigers) started wearing masks with the face facing backwards, because tigers prefer the same advantage that lions do: prey not aware of the predators' presence.

"The chance of success for the lions and tigers is greatly reduced when the target is facing the predator. The prey species is more likely to escape or may even be able to cause injury to the attacker." – Paid-up subscriber Janice M.

"Just six months ago, the future of work was 'open floor plans.' The idea was we needed to get rid of offices and even cubicles to foster collaboration, communications, and team building. Many offices went so far as not to even have assigned seating and everyone just sat next to someone working on their project.

"So, now we've gone from no walls being great to not even being in the same building or city or state now being the ideal environment. Personally, I think that a lot of the team dynamics are going to be lost with people only doing Zoom meetings and that in many disciplines, collaboration requires people sitting in the same room, drawing on (real or electronic) whiteboards, pointing and gesturing to express ideas, even having lunch together, and then ultimately together producing the final plan or product.

"However, if businesses decide to have people come back to the office, I'm thinking that a lot of the remodeling recently done to create open offices is going to have to be discarded in favor of putting the walls, offices, and cubicles back up to give people a better feeling of safety while still fostering the type of collaboration that I believe can only occur in person." – Stansberry Alliance member Walt C.

"I'm amazed at how far ahead of the crowd I was on this. I did this my last 2 years with Lucent Technologies 20 years ago. I built an office in my basement, had 3 phone lines run in and set up company VPN.

"The company VPN has an interesting feature, a password token. The VPN password changed every 10 seconds. Every time I logged in I had to look at the token display to see what the password was. Sure loved eliminating that 18 mile 1-way commute to the office every day." – Paid-up subscriber Don G.

"Boo hoo, cry me a river. I really don't want to hear any whining about having to 'work' from home. Some of us still have to drive to work and operate a nuclear reactor in order to keep the lights on for you. I would kill (not really) to be able to 'work' from home in my pj's." – Paid-up subscriber Michael B.

All the best,

Corey McLaughlin
Baltimore, Maryland
August 26, 2020