Singapore: Quintiles and US-based biotech company Biogen Idec have entered into a five-year strategic clinical development agreement.

The multi-year collaboration is designed to leverage the expertise and experience from both organizations to optimize Biogen Idec's clinical development processes.

According to Quintiles' media statement, the collaboration is structured to increase clinical trial efficiency, with a focus on transparency, quality, innovation and operational excellence.

"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 Mr Tom Pike, chief executive officer, Quintiles.

"We are extremely excited about this agreement and the increased interest we are seeing for these types of innovative development deals. We believe Quintiles is uniquely positioned to help our customers improve their probability of success through these collaborations, and we look forward to working closely with Biogen Idec."

Under the agreement, 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 growing portfolio.

"As we have continued to build our research and development 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 Dr Alfred Sandrock, 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."

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