The Hidden Way to Invest in Obesity

Updated
The Hidden Way to Invest in Obesity

The Motley Fool's health-care show Market Checkup focuses this week on obesity, one of America's largest health-care concerns. Recently classified as a disease, obesity leads to serious health problems, including diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. Currently 35% of adults in the U.S. are classified as obese, but more troubling, one out of three children is as well. All told, obesity adds $190 billion in medical costs to the system, but efforts to tackle this growing problem are increasing.

In this video, health-care analysts David Williamson and Max Macaluso discuss the third and often forgotten obesity-drug maker, Orexigen. This small-cap is stuck running an additional phase 3 trial for Contrave while its two competitors have made it to market. But given its prior positive FDA advisory committee vote and its small market cap, Orexigen may be the best speculative play of all obesity stocks. Watch and find out why.

Rising health-care costs continue to be a hotly debated topic, and even legendary investor Warren Buffett called this trend "the tapeworm that's eating at American competitiveness." To learn more about what's happening to the health-care system -- and how to potentially profit from this trend -- click here for free, immediate access.


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The article The Hidden Way to Invest in Obesity originally appeared on Fool.com.

David Williamson, Max Macaluso, Ph.D., and The Motley Fool have no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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