John McKeague
, SVP of Legal at Skyhawk Therapeutics, Inc. and Dragonfly Therapeutics, Inc.
John has 20+ years in various roles, mainly IP focused, at law firms and in-house. He has worked at law firms in the DC area and Boston, notably a Wilson Sonsini alum. Previously in-house counsel at Norbrook Laboratories Ltd. in Northern Ireland, a generic veterinary pharmaceutical manufacturer where he drafted and prosecuted the global patent portfolio, advised on patent landscape and freedom to operate for new product development and worked with multi-disciplinary teams on product development, including design around strategies. Since June of 2020 he has been in-house counsel at Skyhawk Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical stage biotech company in Waltham, MA that develops small molecules that modulate pre-mRNA splicing across a range of fields, including neurology, oncology and fibrotic diseases. At Skyhawk he deals with all legal issues that come his way, not just the IP. Among other things, he develops the patent strategy with R&D leaders for the company assets, coordinates with outside counsel on the drafting and prosecution of the global patent and trademark portfolio, and relevant to this panel, participates in negotiating collaboration agreements with pharma companies. Since May of 2023 he has also been in-house counsel at Dragonfly Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical stage biotech company in Waltham, MA. He performs the same role and function at Dragonfly as he does at Skyhawk, just different technology – single and multi-specific proteins that engage the immune system for improved outcomes in various fields, including autoimmune disease, oncology, fibrosis.
