Charleen O’Keeffe

Partner

Charleen is a Partner in William Fry’s Litigation & Dispute Resolution Department and a member of its Life Sciences Group, specialising in intellectual property and regulatory law.

 

Charleen O’Keeffe

Charleen is a skilled commercial litigator, with extensive experience in complex, multi-jurisdictional intellectual property disputes. Her patent litigation experience ranges from pharmaceutical and biologics to a wide range of technologies including hi-tech and medical devices.

She advises in the areas of pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and medical devices, covering every phase of a product’s life cycle from product development, clinical trials, data exclusivity, regulatory approval to commercialisation and product safety/recall/liability.

Recent significant cases include representing:

  • Genentech Inc in Commercial Court proceedings against Amgen relating to Amgen’s product Mvasi®, a biosimilar of Genentech’s leading cancer drug Avastin®.
  • Eli Lilly in complex multi-jurisdictional patent revocation proceedings against Eisai R&D Management Co (relating to the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease).
  • Boehringer Ingelheim in the defence of patent and SPC revocation proceedings brought by Teva Pharmaceuticals.
  • GlaxoSmithKline (“GSK”) in Commercial Court patent infringement proceedings against Pfizer (relating to GSK’s MenB vaccine, BEXERO).
  • GSK in its trade mark and passing off action against Rowex Limited involving the Seretide Inhaler, one of the all-time best-selling prescription drugs.
  • BSA

Ranking & Recommendations

Knowledge

Article and Insights
28
Apr 2023
The Court of Appeal has ruled in favour of Biogen, overturning the High Court's de...
Partner
Laura Scott
Article and Insights
3
Mar 2023
European Parliament votes to extend MDR transition periods to avoid supply shortag...
Partner
Charleen O’Keeffe
Article and Insights
3
Jan 2023
New CJEU guidance on rebranding parallel imported medicines.
Partner
Charleen O’Keeffe
Article and Insights
19
Dec 2022
General Court finds that evidence of use of an earlier EU trade mark in the UK is ...
Partner
Charleen O’Keeffe
Article and Insights
7
Jul 2022
In an appeal challenging the marketing authorisation of a generic drug, the Court ...
Partner
Charleen O’Keeffe
Article and Insights
7
Jul 2022
The Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association removes reference to 'medical devi...
Partner
Charleen O’Keeffe
Article and Insights
4
Jul 2022
On 28 June 2022, the Government issued a press release reaffirming its commitment ...
Partner
Charleen O’Keeffe
Article and Insights
4
Jul 2022
With robotic surgery now capable of being performed on a patient in one part of th...
Partner
Mary Cooney
Article and Insights
30
Jun 2022
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming an increasingly pervasive general-purpose...
Partner
Charleen O’Keeffe
Article and Insights
31
May 2022
The In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Device Regulation, (EU) 2017/746, is fully applica...
Partner
Charleen O’Keeffe

Charleen is a Partner in William Fry’s Litigation & Investigations Department and a member of its Life Sciences Group, specialising in intellectual property and regulatory law.

Charleen is a skilled commercial litigator, with extensive experience in complex, multi-jurisdictional intellectual property disputes. Her patent litigation experience ranges from pharmaceutical and biologics to a wide range of technologies including hi-tech and medical devices.

She advises in the areas of pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and medical devices, covering every phase of a product’s life cycle from product development, clinical trials, data exclusivity, regulatory approval to commercialisation and product safety/recall/liability.

Recent significant cases include representing:

  • Genentech Inc in Commercial Court proceedings against Amgen relating to Amgen’s product Mvasi®, a biosimilar of Genentech’s leading cancer drug Avastin®.
  • Eli Lilly in complex multi-jurisdictional patent revocation proceedings against Eisai R&D Management Co (relating to the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease).
  • Boehringer Ingelheim in the defence of patent and SPC revocation proceedings brought by Teva Pharmaceuticals.
  • GlaxoSmithKline (“GSK”) in Commercial Court patent infringement proceedings against Pfizer (relating to GSK’s MenB vaccine, BEXERO).
  • GSK in its trade mark and passing off action against Rowex Limited involving the Seretide Inhaler, one of the all-time best-selling prescription drugs.
  • BSA

Charleen is ranked by WTR 1000 2022: The World’s Leading Trademark Professionals by WTR 1000 2022 and is also ranked as a “Notable practitioner” and ‘Rising Star’ (Managing Intellectual Property IP Stars 2022 and 2020).