The Great Weight-Loss Fight Is Just Beginning

Breakthrough FDA approval for Novo Nordisk... How to end the obesity epidemic... The great weight-loss fight is just beginning... Three companies to watch next... Remembering those who fought on D-Day... Video: Top stocks for the summer...

We wrote it... Did you buy it?

You might've seen some of the mainstream headlines over the weekend. And if not, well, here you go...

They're all talking about this...

Late Friday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") announced it had approved a breakthrough weight-loss drug made by Danish company Novo Nordisk (NVO).

As soon as later this month, the company plans to launch the drug, called Wegovy. It's a higher-dose version of the company's existing diabetes drug, Ozempic (generic name "semaglutide"), which has now gotten approval for treating chronic obesity...

Here are the attention-grabbing details from Stansberry NewsWire analyst Nick Koziol...

The FDA said that the drug was safe and well-tolerated across trials...

The drug is administered via a shot once a week, NVO said. Wegovy is used as an addition to diet changes and exercise for obese and overweight adults with at least one other comorbidity, NVO added.

The data behind this drug are incredible. NVO said that trial patients without Type 2 diabetes who received the drug reported weight loss of 17% to 18% over the 68-week period. According to a doctor interviewed by MarketWatch, patients only see 5% to 10% declines in their weight using existing drugs.

According to Stansberry Venture Technology editor Dave Lashmet, in trials, Novo Nordisk's diabetes drug helped obese people increase their daily activity levels as they lost weight...

Dave, who has been way ahead of this story, says the drug can help people lose 15% of their weight in a year. And the trials were so effective that many people in them stopped taking the weekly injection because their quality of life improved significantly.

As Dave wrote in a special alert to Venture Technology subscribers earlier today...

Every step was lighter.

This turned people who had trouble walking down the street into folks who could walk around the block, then half a mile, and then join an exercise group.

The FDA approved Wegovy alongside diet and exercise to help people lose weight – except Wegovy doesn't require you to do these things. The drug works on its own to reduce appetite and help folks lose pounds until they achieve their ideal weight.

(Existing Venture Technology subscribers should read the full update right here.)

This news might stun most people... It's hard to believe that a drug could help someone lose 15% of their weight in a year by reducing appetite and increasing physical activity.

But many regular Digest readers should be familiar with Novo Nordisk...

And for this very reason... we've written about the obesity epidemic in this country, the hidden costs associated with it, and the value of companies that can help create a solution.

One of them is Novo Nordisk... The research team behind our flagship Stansberry's Investment Advisory newsletter first recommended owning shares of the company back in December 2019, when the stock traded for less than $60 per share. As we write today, it's trading for more than $80 per share and near a 52-week high (which it set within the past couple of weeks).

We talk occasionally about how Dave travels to conduct "boots on the ground" research more than most analysts we know... And we've explained how it frequently pays off in a big way for his subscribers.

That's the case here...

Dave was at a cardiology conference in Paris in 2019. He sat among hundreds of doctors in a breakout session hosted by Novo Nordisk that convinced him of the potential of the weight-loss drugs the company was working on...

We won't get into all the nuances of the treatments in the Digest... Subscribers can read Dave's great work on the science in Venture Technology, as well as the December 2019 Investment Advisory issue for additional information.

The salient point is, Dave and analyst Alan Gula – who later visited Novo Nordisk's headquarters in Denmark to do more research and tour the facilities – believed in the long-term potential for the company's drugs to expand their reach beyond diabetes treatment. As they wrote in the Investment Advisory while recommending NVO shares...

We attended Novo Nordisk's Capital Markets Day in Denmark last month. There, the company laid out new, long-term goals for 2025. We had a chance to speak with Martin Holst Lange, head of global development for Novo Nordisk, about the company's ambitious obesity strategy.

Novo Nordisk is seeking to develop drug treatments that are as effective as weight-loss surgery. It's hard to overstate the significance of this goal...

If the company is successful, it will have a potential solution to the obesity epidemic.

Remember, this was before COVID-19 entered our lives and before talking about threatening "comorbidities" for the disease, like obesity, became as common as the early advice to wash your hands and stay out of public...

As he often is, Dave and our team were well ahead of the trend here... (As we write today, another one of his recommendations just earned FDA approval for a separate breakthrough treatment for an insidious disease... and another COVID-related technology received approval last week.)

We first heard Dave present in-depth about the obesity epidemic in early March 2020...

He sat on stage in a large meeting room at our Spring Editors' Conference in Florida, with giant images from his PowerPoint slides projecting behind him.

This meeting occurred just about the time the world was shutting down... The ride home marked the last time we were on a flight and didn't have to worry about wearing a mask.

Anyway, on the ground at the Streamsong Resort in central Florida, Dave talked about several big opportunities to invest in companies working on solutions for the growing obesity epidemic.

He rattled off starting statistics about the problem – like the fact that about one in three U.S. adults are obese and that rates have tripled in recent decades. We wrote more about this topic last August in the Digest...

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.

Dave pointed out that at least 20% of the population of every state in America is overweight today. None of these states met that threshold in 1995 – just 26 years ago. More from Dave, courtesy of that August 2020 Digest...

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.

Novo Nordisk's pipeline of drugs – and potentially more from a few little-known companies that Dave had his eye on – were among those that could help stop the costly epidemic, he said.

When we caught up with Dave again last summer to get an update on the obesity story – a conversation that we shared in our August 29 and August 30 Masters Series – he told us that most non-COVID-related FDA trials and such had been interrupted or hadn't started yet because of the pandemic, but that Novo Nordisk's treatments were well on their way to approval.

As word has gotten out more recently on Wall Street about that likelihood, NVO shares have gained 20% since a recent low on March 24... Just last month, Dave wrote to expect Novo Nordisk's diabetes drug to get FDA approval to treat general obesity by the end of this month.

But Dave had already doubled down on owning NVO shares in June 2020...

He recommended the stock then to subscribers of his Venture Technology newsletter...

And those folks who watched Dave's online presentation on the obesity epidemic will remember that he was so convinced in the science and data he had seen about Novo Nordisk's drug in development that he "gave away" the ticker as a free pick in his event.

Back then, NVO shares traded at a significant discount to where they are today... And as word spreads of this breakthrough drug, its effectiveness in trials, and more to come from the company, prices could head even higher.

And Dave's long-term thesis remains well intact... That's why today, as he wrote in his special alert to Venture Technology subscribers, he raised his "buy up to" price for the stock.

Congratulations are in order for Dave, our team, and to subscribers who got in early on this opportunity and are sitting on big gains today... Investment Advisory subscribers are up more than 40%, while Venture Technology subscribers are up more than 20%.

There's still plenty of room for NVO shares to run. And best of all, there are several other opportunities to make money as the weight-loss fight accelerates...

Dave recently found three other companies working on revolutionary drugs that could help end the obesity epidemic...

He talked about them in a new special presentation we just finalized as the news about Novo Nordisk was breaking on Friday. In fact, this story is so fresh that our marketing team had to update the video today to reflect the latest developments... You can watch it here.

As Dave writes in a new special report now available to Venture Technology subscribers, Novo Nordisk's breakthrough that just went mainstream is only the start of a long fight against the obesity epidemic, which he describes as a "cultural phenomenon"...

Just think about restaurants. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2019, half of U.S. food spending was for prepared meals.

And it's not just sitting and eating at restaurants. Most of us commute to work sitting in a car or a train instead of by bicycle or walking.

By not exercising, we gain weight... which makes it harder to exercise... which leads to more weight gain. It's an almost inescapable cycle.

Given its scale, the national obesity epidemic could break our health care system.

According to Dave, there are a few solutions...

Good diet and regular exercise will always be one of these solutions. But it can be hard to consistently eat well and move as much as you should... especially if you're the type of person who sits in front of a computer all day or has a sedentary job.

The fact is that many people today would welcome a safe, weight-loss drug like Novo Nordisk's recently approved one. And there are many more in the works that might be even more widely used...

For one thing, Wegovy – the company's newly approved drug – is a weekly injectable shot. People don't like getting shots, as we know, if they don't have to.

But Novo Nordisk also makes a daily pill version of the same drug... It's called Rybelsus, and it's already approved for Type 2 diabetes (like Wegovy just was). Plus, it's currently in a Phase III test with the FDA to use at a higher dose to treat obesity.

It will likely get approved as well, which could boost Novo Nordisk's already strong balance sheet even more. As Dave told us in a private e-mail earlier today...

This could easily be the most valuable drug ever. It would be a once-a-day pill you take for a year to regain your ideal body weight.

And beyond Novo Nordisk, several companies are working on obesity drugs that you should keep your eyes on – and consider owning shares of – today.

All three of the companies Dave has found and recommends are little-known to most investors, but they have made unprecedented progress developing drugs designed to specifically fight fatty liver disease – a common result of obesity, much like Type 2 diabetes...

In short, if you can fight that disease, you can fight obesity – and end the epidemic. That's why Dave believes all three companies could potentially return 1,000% or more for early investors.

Dave has laid out all the new details in his brand-new special report... Current Venture Technology subscribers can read it right here. And if you don't already subscribe, again, you can click here to watch Dave's latest presentation for details on how to get started.

There is no better time... Because of this incredible opportunity for early investors, Dave has agreed to cut the price of his newsletter by 55% off the normal cost. It's by far the biggest discount he has ever offered, or ever plans to... and will last for a limited time only.

Switching gears, we want to end today with part of a recent essay from NewsWire editor C. Scott Garliss...

He has shared it around this time in each of the past few years – and he did so again with NewsWire readers on Friday morning. We'll only share an excerpt today, but it's well worth the read in its entirety, too.

It's a thoughtful and personal tribute to the soldiers who fought in – and won – World War II. Specifically, Scott remembers those from the "Greatest Generation" – like his grandfather, Joseph Allen Garliss, who fought on D-Day. The 77th anniversary was yesterday, June 6.

As Scott shared, below is a picture of the B-17 plane "Tuff Teddie" that his grandfather (also known as Pop-pop) flew on – in 34 missions over France and Germany, 13 of those over Berlin – after it crashed in a field on the way back from its final mission...

It blows my mind how wild stories like my grandfather's are commonplace for the time...

Every American family was affected in one way or another...

Everyone with a relative who served in that war has a story like Pop-pop's. Having never served, let alone fought in war, I can't begin to imagine the incredible courage it took those young men and their families to answer that call and make the sacrifices that would result in those stories.

"Thank you!" can never be said enough. But many of them would tell you that they were simply doing their duty for the good of all.

As I grow older, my respect grows deeper. I can only be in awe and so thankful for my family's chance to live in peace. We celebrate all who gave up so much that day – and all of the days leading up to V-E day.

Truly... they are the Greatest Generation.

Hear, hear.

Top Stocks for the Summer

Based on historical U.S. stock market performance, many Wall Street investors abide by the old investment adage, "Sell in May and go away." In other words, it's smart to divest from stocks in May, head to the beach for the summer, and wait to reinvest in the fall.

But as economic data continues to outperform in 2021, Blue Line Futures' Phillip Streible explains why this is not the summer to cash out. Beyond that, Streible reveals which sectors and stocks investors should watch in the months ahead...

Click here to watch this video right now. For more free video content, subscribe to our Stansberry Research YouTube channel... and don't forget to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

New 52-week highs (as of 6/4/21): ABB (ABB), Analog Devices (ADI), American Financial (AFG), American Express (AXP), Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B), Crown Castle (CCI), Colony Capital (CLNY), Commvault Systems (CVLT), Dropbox (DBX), Western Asset Emerging Markets Debt Fund (EMD), iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ex China Fund (EMXC), Alphabet (GOOGL), Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII), Hershey (HSY), Intuit (INTU), Invitation Homes (INVH), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Coca-Cola (KO), Cheniere Energy (LNG), Motorola Solutions (MSI), Annaly Capital Management (NLY), Northrop Grumman (NOC), Nestle (NSRGY), VanEck Vectors Oil Services Fund (OIH), Invesco S&P 500 BuyWrite Fund (PBP), Invesco Dynamic Oil & Gas Services Fund (PXJ), VanEck Vectors Russia Fund (RSX), ProShares Ultra S&P 500 Fund (SSO), Suncor Energy (SU), Vanguard S&P 500 Fund (VOO), Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLP), and Zebra Technologies (ZBRA).

In today's mailbag, more of your feedback on investing in cryptocurrencies. As always, keep your notes and questions coming to feedback@stansberryresearch.com.

"Hello, Dan Ferris and Steve Sjuggerud: Thank you for your thorough and insightful article on the recent fall of Bitcoin – and its likely future. In May of 2020, at the advice of several advisory newsletters that I read, I invested $8,000 into cryptocurrencies, with about 1/4 of that in Bitcoin. I read that certain altcoins held a much greater chance of a huge upside than Bitcoin.

"In April of this year, my crypto accounts stood at approximately a 9x upside, which was an incredible feeling. My stock accounts were also up, but not as much. I'm a widow and had some expenses coming up, so had decided to take $10,000 out of my crypto accounts, and $10,000 out of my stocks (a self-managed beneficiary IRA). Unfortunately, I was a day late, because literally the next day my crypto accounts started tumbling. My stock account had started sliding in April and is now down about 15%, and crypto accounts are down about 40%, bouncing back from a paper loss of 50%.

"No question it has been heart-stopping at times. However, I believe in the long haul, and feel certain the cryptos will return to their recent upside and more, and am adding a small amount to those accounts. I also believe that the mostly tech stocks I have invested in will return, and more. I'm changing some of the stocks I hold, and some of the cryptos. Other than that, I am hanging tough.

"Thanks for your insights. Yours is a new voice to me since I took over management of my investment accounts, and a welcome one." – Paid-up subscriber Linda S.

All the best,

Corey McLaughlin
Baltimore, Maryland
June 7, 2021