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(Alliance News) - N4 Pharma PLC on Tuesday said it has repeated the in-vivo study of Nuvec and shown it does work "when using multiple injections at certain doses".
Shares in N4 Pharma were down 8.6% at 4.16 pence in morning trade.
The company's Nuvec system is intended to stimulate the production of antibodies, proteins which are produced by the immune system in response to pathogens, and has a potential for use in the creation of vaccines and cancer treatments.
Analysis in-vivo - experiments which take place inside living organisms - showed Nuvec did produce an immune response able to cause "a very clear increase" in antibody numbers after three injections.
This result was seen in the two higher ratio doses, where all six test cases responded. However, the response in the lower ratio dose was much less, with just three of the six test cases responding.
There were also difficulties in evaluating the response to Nuvec after two injections because "blood samples were taken too soon after the second injection". Nonetheless, there was a trend toward production of antibodies after two injections.
Back in April, N4 Pharma reported initial in-vivo testing of Nuvec had been unsuccessful due to issues with the study, including with dosage.
Looking ahead, N4 Pharma is planning to improve the process used in the study to see if can established greater consistency and has therefore undertaken a technical review of the process used to manufacture and load Nuvec.
Chief Executive Nigel Theobald said: "The successful repeat...demonstrates that Nuvec is capable of working in vivo when using multiple injections at certain doses.
"We can now focus on improving the Nuvec loading process to increase the consistency of the in vivo results, which, once successful, will allow us to move from exploratory collaborations to engage in full licensing discussions. We will be in a much stronger position for these discussions once this work has been successfully concluded. The company remains well funded to do this next work."
"In parallel to this, we continue to evaluate potential acquisitions and/or investments to diversify the company's asset base whilst this work on Nuvec remains ongoing," he added.