A former New York-based financial analyst who followed the pharmaceutical industry and is believed to have been employed by Merck & Co has pleaded guilty to participating in an insider trading scheme.

According to the US attorney's office for the Southern District of New York, Zachary Zwerko pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and three counts of securities fraud stemming from an insider trading plot that ran from 2010 through August 2014.

The 32-year-old analyst was accused of passing on tips about potential pharmaceutical mergers to a friend, a fellow graduate of Rutgers Business School, who worked at Bank of New York Mellon Corp.

Between 2012 and 2014, prosecutors said Zwerko gave the friend advance information about Merck & Co's acquisition of Idenix Pharmaceuticals, as well as tips that Ardea BioSciences and ViroPharma were potential acquisition targets.

AstraZeneca acquired Ardea in 2012, while Shire purchased ViroPharma in 2013.

The friend is said to have used the tips to make more than $737,000 in illicit profits while paying Zwerko a total of $57,000 for the information.

According to news agency reports, the US attorney's office in Manhattan has charged 92 people since 2009 in a wide-ranging crackdown on insider trading.

Zwerko is scheduled to be sentenced on May 15. Civil charges from the US Securities and Exchange Commission may follow.