Pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson has signed a five-year contract with alternative legal services provider Axiom.

Axiom will provide the pharma giant with multi-shore contract management services, which will support the company's global procurement contracting function.

The deal means Axiom will support and help standardise procurement agreements for the company in more than 10 different languages, across a dozen contract types.

The technology provider now serves 22 of the top 25 global pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device companies.

Head of commercial for Axiom, Al Giles, said: "We are pleased by what this deal represents for contracting in the life sciences industry: the progression from an artisanal approach to a model that applies standardisation, automation and process.

"That approach not only creates a more efficient contracting function, but it also has commercial benefits – shortening cycle times and better managing risk."

The deal will see a team of Axiom staff create, execute and negotiate procurement agreements. Alongside this, Axiom lawyers will provide assistance on more complex agreements.

The majority of the Axiom team dealing with Johnson & Johnson will operate from its centre in Poland, but the deal will also involve its office in Chicago for in-timezone assistance.

Axiom now has more than 1,000 lawyers worldwide. In June this year, Ashurst joined forces with Axiom to provide a wider range of advice to its banking clients.

This was the first time the technology company had announced a partnership with a law firm.