Ireland is a globally recognised centre of excellence for life sciences, pharma and medtech companies, ranging from global multinationals to an increasing number of vibrant indigenous companies.
Our life sciences team, drawn from specialist practice areas across the firm, offers commercial and practical advice to global players and emerging companies alike. Our key strength is our industry knowledge and expertise.
Martin Kelleher, who leads the team, spent almost a decade as in-house counsel to Elan Corporation plc, a global biopharmaceutical company. Many of our lawyers have backgrounds in industry, science and medicine.
Life sciences companies require a special blend of legal advice and industry knowledge and we advise on a variety of issues including the development, protection and licensing of intellectual property, commercial contracts, clinical and regulatory matters as well as financing and funding, taxation, and mergers and acquisitions.
We also advise on a number of other areas affecting the life sciences sector, such as employment - including business immigration, competition law, public procurement, privacy and data security and technology law.
Our Services
- Mergers & Acquisition
- Commercial Contracts
- Intellectual Property
- Regulation: regulatory framework and enforcement
- Healthcare:
- Clinical trials and investigations
- The regulation of hospitals, nursing homes, primary care clinics and other healthcare institutions
- Healthcare ethics
- Product Liability
- Funding
- Taxation
Recommendations
Legal 500, 2021
Tier 1 ranked team. “Excellent service and advice provided by a professional team. Always a pleasure to deal with”.
Chambers & Partners, 2020
Sources praise the team's "good depth of experience".
Legal 500, 2020
"Excellent patent litigation and product liability capabilities, particularly in the life sciences area".
Chambers & Partners, 2019
“Big-firm experience with hands-on and practical advice. They have all the experts to hand..."
Legal 500, 2019
“Direct, knowledgeable, flexible and can always be relied on”.
Recent Work
- Advised McKesson Corporation on its acquisition of the pharmaceutical distribution business of Irish FTSE 250 company, UDG Healthcare plc for €408m.
- Advised the shareholders of Genable Technologies Limited, an Irish privately held venture-capital backed biopharmaceutical company, on the sale of the company to Spark Therapeutics Inc., a NASDAQ listed leading US gene therapy company.
- Acting for a multinational pharmaceutical company in patent revocation/ infringement proceedings before the Commercial Court regarding the asthma treatment combination Budesonide/ Formoterol.
- Advising St Patrick’s Mental Health Services on the roll out of a fully integrated system of Electronic Health Records, including procurement, commercial and significant data privacy advice (given the extremely sensitive nature of the medical information involved).
- Advised IdentiGEN, a leading provider of DNA-based solutions to the agri-food industry, on a significant growth capital investment by MML Growth Capital Partners Ireland.
- Advised the private and institutional shareholders of a medtech company on the sale to a publicly quoted multinational.
- Advised Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated and J.P. Morgan Securities in the financing of the $7.3bn takeover offer made by Royalty Pharma for Elan Corporation plc.
- Acted for Mylan Inc. in its acquisition of Bioniche Pharma Holdings Limited, for $550 million in cash.
- Advised Virtus Health on its acquisition of a 70% interest in Ireland’s largest IVF provider, SIMS IVF, for €15.49 million.
- Acted for Fortune 500 company, Owens & Minor, a leading healthcare logistics company, on its acquisition of the ArcRoyal group, a market leader in the MedTech sector delivering custom solutions for a range of global healthcare companies.
- Acted for Danaher Corporation in connection with the acquisition of Biotector Analytical Systems Limited and Analytical Developments Limited.
- Advised Diploma plc on its acquisition of TechnoPath Distribution, a leading MedTech company who supply Biotech and healthcare customers with leading edge technologies and products.
- Acted for Nycomed Limited in the sale of a manufacturing and tablet facility to Gilead Sciences Limited.
- Acting for a multinational pharmaceutical company in separate SPC and patent revocation proceedings before the Commercial Court regarding the product Tiotropium Bromide Monohydrate.
- Advising the State Claims Agency and Health Service Executive on product safety and recall issues, and in defence of product liability proceedings, arising out of the use of metal on metal hip replacement devices manufactured by, amongst others, De Puy.
- Advising St Patrick’s Mental Health Services on the roll out of a fully integrated system of Electronic Health Records, including procurement, commercial and significant data privacy advice (given the extremely sensitive nature of the medical information involved).
- Advising Trinity College Dublin on the conduct of clinical trials and investigations.
- We act for the Chief Executive Officer of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland on misconduct and fitness to practise matters under the statutory regime provided for by the Nurses and Midwives Act 2011. The Board is charged with the function of disciplining nurses and midwives. We are advising on over 20 on-going fitness to practise inquiries, involving a wide range of complex allegations, ranging from professional misconduct, poor professional performance and medical disability on the part of a nurse of midwife.
