A career-threatening type of knee injury to NFL players is down this year, a finding that comes from a division of Quin tiles (NYSE:Q).

The NFL told its Health and Safety Advisory Committee that anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL, injuries are down, according to a memo obtained by the Associated Press. Research showed 30 ACL injuries in games through the preseason and the first 13 weeks of the regular season schedule. There were 39 such injuries in 2012, 35 in 2011, 37 in 2010, and 31 in 2009.

There was an increase in medial collateral ligament injuries (MCL), from 74 in 2012 to 89 in games this season through 13 weeks. But there were 106 MCL injuries in 2011, 89 in 2010 and 103 in 2009.

The findings come from Outcome, a division of Durham pharmaceutical services company Quintiles.

Quintiles is the largest provider of outsourced services to the pharmaceutical industry. In 2011, the company paid $177 million to acquire Massachusetts firm Outcome Sciences, a company that provides research phases in the later stages of clinical trials as well as after drugs have reached the market.

But Outcome’s real-world research is not limited to drugs. Just prior to Quintiles announcement of is Outcome Sciences acquisition in 2011, Outcome had announced it would work with the NFL to update its Injury Surveillance System, the primary source for injury reporting in the NFL. Outcome provides technology and hosting services for the system and also gives the NFL and its committees epidemiological and biostatistical expertise to analyze NFL injury data and support related medical research.

The knee injury findings reported by AP this week were provided to the league, which then sent them to the committee chaired by San Francisco 49ers owner John York, AP reported. The committee also includes Giants owner John Mara, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, Packers President Mark Murphy and Falcons President Rich McKay. The data are for all types of ACL and MCL injuries, including tears and sprains.

This season, about 68 percent of ACL injuries involved contact with another player. The percentage in the four previous seasons ranged from 67 percent in 2009 to 55 percent in 2012.