WuXi PharmaTech Shares Popped: What You Need to Know

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of WuXi PharmaTech (NYS: WX) have popped by as much as 12% today on news that the company has acquired Abgent, a provider of biological research reagent products and services.

So what: Abgent is one of the world's largest makers of antibody reagents used for research purposes. The company offers a broad range of roughly 20,000 products. No financial details were disclosed about the acquisition, but Abgent will bring new product lines to WuXi for drug discovery and basic research.

Now what: WuXi CEO Dr. Ge Li said, "WuXi's acquisition of Abgent continues our strategy leveraging the advantages of our China-based operations." The company's goal is to build a platform that allows any person or company to discover and develop drugs more efficiently and cost effectively. WuXi will incorporate Abgent's integrated development and production platform to better penetrate the global research reagent market.

Interested in more info on WuXi PharmaTech? Add it to your watchlist byclicking here.

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