Editor's note: Blockbuster weight-loss drugs are the big story in biotech right now. But according to our colleague Dave Lashmet, a lesser-known development in the weight-loss space could offer triple-digit gains to early investors. In this excerpt from an issue of Stansberry Venture Technology, Dave explains why these new drugs are different from anything else on the market right now...

Profiting as Biotech Takes Control of the 'Hunger Switch'

By Dave Lashmet, editor, Stansberry Venture Technology

Americans are growing in the wrong direction...

In 1980, 12% of American adults – 1 in 8 people – were obese. Today, 42% of American adults are obese. And obesity rates in the rest of the developed world are skyrocketing, too.

This is a public-health crisis. Being overweight taxes your heart, lungs, and mobility. It directly drives Type 2 diabetes, liver failure, heart attacks, strokes, dementia, and osteoarthritis in your joints. Just as important, obesity makes it harder to do daily chores and exercise... limiting your strength, balance, and heart and lung health.

That's where weight-loss drugs like Wegovy and Zepbound come in...

These weekly injectable drugs target the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor. GLP-1 is a hormone that helps regulate blood sugar.

GLP-1 sets your base metabolism: how much you eat versus how much energy you burn. On these drugs, your appetite tends to fall... while your resting heart rate increases by about five beats per minute. Between the two, you lose weight.

But one new drug could change the game for a lot of people...

Recently, scientists have developed drugs to unlock the body's "hunger switch." And hundreds-of-percent gains are possible for early investors...

Hunger is a core brain function.

Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine showed this by shining a blue light on mice after having them run on a treadmill... which caused the mice to eat less afterward. That's because the light hit one of the mice's three major hunger-control centers.

One hunger-control center is linked to base metabolism, another to blood sugar, and a third to stress. But after the researchers lit up just one of these, the mice only ate half as much as the control group.

And it wasn't heat from the light that mattered. Only by using blue light could researchers directly control a mouse's appetite. And it turns out, one key receptor matters.

This receptor is called the melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R). Both people and mice have it. MC4R tells us when we're hungry or full. That's why we call MC4R the "hunger switch."

Now, some people's genes cause them to be less hungry. Others have a defect in this gene where they're always hungry... even after eating.

But if you can flip this switch, you can make a drug that silences hunger.

In recent years, the science of the hunger switch has been booming.

Thanks to a 2021 study, we now know MC4R is most active in your brain. So how it works is finally clear.

We simplified the following image to give you a sense of your hunger switch in action...

If you cut the MC4R in half, you can see there are seven columns inside of it. The hunger switch works based on columns 1 and 2.

To treat anorexia, a drug can pull columns 1 and 2 together to boost your hunger. And to treat obesity, a drug can do the opposite... It can push columns 1 and 2 apart to reduce hunger.

In 2024, my Stansberry Venture Technology subscribers got in on a company with a hunger-switch injectable drug to treat genetic obesity. Its new pill also appears to do this by acting like a "lucky" mutation...

You see, there are two natural varieties in human hunger switches.

One is found among some Pima people in the U.S. Southwest and Mexico. Their genetic code includes a version of MC4R that makes them burn 125 fewer calories per day. So their body mass index ("BMI") is about three points higher overall. Meanwhile, a cluster of folks in the U.K. and France have a version of MC4R where they don't easily gain weight because their metabolism is higher and they don't get very hungry.

In short, both groups have variations in their hunger switch: one turns it on, and the other turns it off.

A 2011 surgical study also looked at the "lucky" mutation. This mutation not only helps folks avoid gaining weight, but it also helps them lose weight faster if they do.

For example, these folks lost 10% more weight after stomach-banding surgery than folks with a normal hunger switch. You can see this in the chart below...

As you can see, there are three benefits if you have this lucky mutation in your hunger switch:

This new drug essentially gives you this lucky mutation.

Today, folks don't get stomach-banding surgery as much as they used to, thanks to GLP-1 weight-loss drugs like Wegovy and Zepbound. These drugs can bring as much weight loss as surgery, without the trauma.

But hunger-switch drugs work differently. And there could be a benefit to combining them with GLP-1 drugs.

At this point, we can only call a combination drug a promising possibility that's years away. More likely, the hunger-switch drug will be tested separately from any of the GLP-1 drugs.

For investors, that's good. If the hunger-switch pill stands on its own, it's unique... It can be an exit ramp for the millions of people who take GLP-1 drugs to keep off weight.

And with a market so vast – and a drug so promising – you can bet that Big Pharma will notice.

Good investing,

Dave Lashmet

Editor's note: If you were late to Big Tech... crypto... AI... or any other recent boom, pay attention: The opportunity in weight-loss drugs is still just beginning. Dave says we're about to see the biggest and most lucrative breakthrough of the coming decade – but the best chance to act for 1,000% potential upside could be gone within weeks.

One Stansberry employee is stepping forward to share his personal experience in one of the greatest biotech revolutions of our lifetimes... Click here to learn more.

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