CRO Quintiles and Biogen Idec have entered into a five-year strategic clinical development agreement. The collaboration is designed to leverage the expertise and experience from both organizations to optimize Biogen Idec’s clinical development processes.

The collaboration is structured to increase clinical trial efficiency, with a focus on transparency, quality, innovation and operational excellence. A dedicated team from Quintiles will work with Biogen Idec on the design, planning and execution of Biogen Idec’s phase II-IV studies and select phase I studies. In addition, Biogen Idec will leverage Quintiles’ technology and systems across its portfolio.

“Our partnership with Biogen Idec exemplifies the ongoing evolution of drug development collaboration and reinforces the increasingly important role that biopharmaceutical service providers such as Quintiles have in these efforts,” said Tom Pike, CEO, Quintiles. “We are extremely excited about this agreement and the increased interest we are seeing for these types of innovative development deals.”

The Biogen Idec and Quintiles collaboration already is underway. New projects are being initiated through the collaboration, and several of Biogen Idec’s ongoing studies currently are transitioning to Quintiles.

“As we have continued to build our R&D organization, it was important for us to identify a strong clinical development partner to complement our focus on developing innovative therapies for the treatment of neurodegenerative, hematologic and autoimmune diseases,” said Alfred Sandrock, M.D., Ph.D., group senior vice president, development sciences, and chief medical officer, Biogen Idec. “What attracted us to Quintiles was their depth and breadth of experience, which we believe will enhance the design, planning and operational elements of our clinical programs."