Legion against lesions

Despite its enormous depth of clinical and commercial experience in multiple sclerosis, Biogen Idec Inc. is still seeking to fill gaps in understanding of why MS patients progress at different rates and respond differently to treatments. A deal last month with Google Inc. will give Biogen tools to collect patient data on a daily basis for basic research into the drivers of MS pathology.

Biogen is using this and other partnerships to develop tools that facilitate patient data collection and interpretation, with the goal of helping physicians choose the best treatment early on that will slow disease progression for a given patient...