BOSTON, Jan 30 (Reuters) - A former executive at French

drugmaker Ipsen was sentenced on Thursday to two months

in prison for illegally trading on inside information he learned

about his company's plans to acquire cancer drug developer

Epizyme in 2022.

Dishant Gupta, Ipsen's former director of data strategy and

operations, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Julia Kobick in

Boston after pleading guilty in October to engaging in

securities fraud in order to earn more than $260,000 through

insider trading.

Prosecutors had asked the judge to sentence Gupta to one

year in prison, while defense lawyers had pushed for a

non-custodial sentence. Gupta must also pay a $20,000 fine and

forfeit the $260,000, prosecutors said.

His lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.

Prosecutors said that during a meeting in Cambridge,

Massachusetts, in March 2022, an Ipsen executive asked Gupta to

help him put together materials related to a potential

acquisition of a cancer drug and an unidentified drug company's

assets.

Days later, Gupta met with Ipsen executives to discuss

possible acquisitions in the oncology market, prosecutors said.

By April 7, 2022, Gupta knew the cancer drug and assets Ipsen

wanted to acquire belonged to Cambridge-based biotech Epizyme,

the maker of the cancer medication Tazverik, prosecutors said.

That day, he began buying Epizyme shares in his wife's

brokerage account, according to court documents. Prosecutors

said he bought more in the days that followed as the companies

discussed a potential outright acquisition of Epizyme.

Ipsen announced its $247 million acquisition of Epizyme on

June 27, 2022. Gupta then sold all of his Epizyme shares,

netting him a profit of more than $262,000, prosecutors said.

"The defendant's crime is a form of corruption," prosecutors

wrote in court papers ahead of Thursday's sentencing. "He took

advantage of the trust that his employer, and co-workers, placed

in him to try and make money."