Cancer is a big part of Ipsen’s growth strategy, evident in a series of business deals struck by the company in recent years to expand its oncology portfolio and drug pipeline. An Ipsen worker who allegedly profited from stock transactions based on non-public knowledge of his employer’s $247 million buyout of a cancer drug developer has now been charged with insider trading.
The Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday filed a complaint against Ipsen employee Dishant Gupta. Gupta has agreed to plead guilty, according to a separate court filing. The monetary penalty has yet to be decided. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts has also filed criminal charges against Gupta for his alleged conduct.
Paris-based Ipsen maintains U.S. operations in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In early 2022, Ipsen started talking with Epizyme about acquiring that Cambridge-based company’s drug, Tazverik, according to the SEC complaint. Tazverik won FDA approval in 2020 for the treatment of follicular lymphoma. Negotiations between Ipsen and Epizyme progressed from a potential acquisition of the cancer drug to a buyout of the entire biotech company. The Epizyme acquisition was announced on June 27, 2022.
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Gupta lives in New Jersey and often worked from home, the SEC said in the complaint. He is director of data strategy and operations, a role that involves the marketing and strategic pricing of products. Through this position, Gupta allegedly learned about the market potential and marketing strategy for a drug that appeared to be Tazverik.
In the months leading up to the acquisition announcement, the SEC said Gupta ran numerous internet searches using the phrases “Epizyme buyout” and “Epizyme takeover.” Nine days before the deal was announced, Gupta searched the phrase “Ipsen acquired Epizyme,” according to the complaint. While the companies negotiated the transaction, Gupta allegedly accumulated Epizyme shares. From April to June of 2022, the complaint notes that Gupta purchased Epizyme stock on 27 different days.
“While Gupta built a position in Epizyme throughout this period, he was most aggressive in the weeks leading up to the announcement,” the SEC said in the complaint. “Specifically, between June 16, 2022, and June 24, 2022, Gupta purchased approximately 200,000 shares, spending nearly $160,000.”
The acquisition announcement came in the early morning hours of June 27, timed to happen ahead of the stock market open in Europe. By 9:30 am Eastern time, Gupta had sold all of his Epizyme shares for a profit of $260,078.27, the SEC said.
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The SEC complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, is case number 24-cv-12316. According to a court filing, Gupta has entered a written agreement to plead guilty to one count of securities fraud. He must give up the money he gained illegally and also pay a civil fine. Per terms of the plea, Gupta is barred from serving as an executive or director of any publicly traded company. The terms of this settlement are still subject to court approval.
Oncology products are the biggest driver of revenue for Ipsen, accounting for more than €2.3 billion of the company’s €3.1 billion in 2023 sales. Besides the deal that brought the company Tazverik, Ipsen had acquired the approved Merrimack Pharmaceuticals pancreatic cancer drug, Onivyde. The company has also struck deals for programs still in development. In July, Ipsen reached an agreement for global rights to a Phase 1-ready antibody drug conjugate (ADC) from Foreseen Biotechnology. That deal followed the April acquisition of global rights to an ADC from Sutro Biopharma. Ipsen’s oncology interest extends to other types of drugs. In 2022, months after the Epizyme acquisition, Ipsen began a partnership with Marengo Therapeutics focused on the R&D of T cell receptor therapies for cancer.
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