The Weekend Edition is pulled from the daily Stansberry Digest.
Pandemics start as epidemics...
When the COVID-19 outbreak started this winter in Wuhan, China, it was first labeled as an epidemic because the growing number of cases were relatively isolated to one region of the country.
Then on March 11, the World Health Organization ("WHO") classified the disease as a pandemic. By then, it had spread to several other countries.
But the epidemic label isn't exclusive to diseases like COVID-19. 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...
Opioid overdoses... the plain old flu during many other years... texting-while-driving accidents... mosquito-borne outbreaks... 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 – double the percentage of just 10 years ago.
While sobering and real and glaring, this epidemic also provides the context for one of the most promising 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 has been an expert medical and technology analyst, researcher, and inventor for 30 years and was the first analyst our founder Porter Stansberry hired more than two decades ago.
On February 27, Dave sounded the alarm about COVID-19. He has recommended some huge trades recently, too...
On June 26, he booked a 1,000%-plus return, the highest in Stansberry Research history. Two weeks later, he delivered subscribers a separate 777% return.
Many readers may also know that Dave doesn't make many outrageous claims. 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... a cure that could be on its way to the public soon.
This may seem completely shocking, or maybe unbelievable...
But that's precisely why it's such an exciting opportunity for investors...
You likely won't read about this company and this drug anywhere else for weeks. 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 – it will change humankind forever...
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.
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.
No U.S. state had a rate of obesity greater than 20% in 1995. Today, at least 20% of the population of every state in America is overweight. 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 know all the science yet, but the "higher risk" group for COVID-19 includes tens of millions of overweight folks.
The market for an obesity "fix" is greater than most people can probably imagine...
Most of us know instinctively that it's smart to eat well and exercise to keep a healthy weight, even if we struggle to do it...
You might say, "OK, we already have a fix for obesity. Just work out and don't eat bad food." True. Diet and exercise is a winning combination...
But then why are more and more people getting bigger and bigger? Dave has a few ideas, but these are the main two:
1. Mechanization. We Americans simply don't move as much as we once did, for a variety of reasons, like convenient and quick transportation.
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 phones does not count as movement when it comes to burning calories.
2. Addictive foods. Salt and sugar 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 or even centuries... and they're not reversing.
Like with 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, and it has proven to be unrealistic for millions of adults over the years.
Lifestyle changes could work, too... like calorie-counting. But again, that's not sustainable for many, especially in a country with way more fast-food restaurants than gyms (and that's if they're even still open)...
Plus, it's hard to keep the weight off if you do manage to lose it.
The other option for curing obesity 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. Dave has found a company that's developed a drug that gets at the root cause of obesity. But 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 – is aware of them.
But the secret will be out soon. 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 if Dave is correct, this recommendation could return an all-time record for a Stansberry Research pick in the next few years.
As we said, longtime readers know Dave doesn't make bold claims lightly...
And they also know that his track record proves his success...
One out of every three of Dave's stock picks for subscribers has at least doubled in price, including the recent 10-bagger recommendation subscribers booked in June.
Now, Dave says that 1,139% win could look low compared with this latest find. And Dave's newest find is what he calls "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 you by. Click here to watch right now.
It could be the beginning of the end of an epidemic.
All the best,
Corey McLaughlin
Editor's note: Dave has discovered an under-the-radar stock that's set to soar, thanks to its potential cure for America's obesity pandemic. But this opportunity is time-sensitive. Before this news goes mainstream, investing in this stock today could make 50% in the near term... and 20 times that in the next few years. Click here to get all the details.
