N4 Pharma shares (LON: N4P) have plummeted over 37% on Monday’s opening.

Following news that recent research didn’t produce positive results, the company said it would be moving onto a new study of treatment into Covid-19.

In mid-August, the pharmaceutical company said stage two of the studies had been successfully completed, however, latest news shows that stage three was not as successful.

“Following the completion of stage-three of the proof-of-concept work and a review of the results, the company is continuing to explore the utility of Nuvec with the coronavirus plasmid and will progress to an in vivo study in due course,” said N4 Pharma on Monday.

“Whilst the single intradermal injection used in the stage-three pre in vivo study did not result in a measurable expression of the spike protein in the target cells of the murine target, neither did the positive control.

“Additional exploratory studies will continue to understand the translation potency of the coronavirus plasmid including optimisation of Nuvec plasmid loading.

“With this in mind and taken together with previous positive data, the company has decided to proceed to a full in vivo study to demonstrate the capability of Nuvec to generate Covid-19 specific antibodies.”

Nigel Theobald, the group’s chief executive, commented: “The initial pilot work of stage 3 of the Covid-19 proof of concept work was narrow in its scope and, having reviewed the results, we have taken the decision to move to a full in vivo study to establish an immune response through the production of antibodies.

“In undertaking the work we aim to demonstrate Nuvec(R)’s capabilities both as a potential delivery technology for multiple vaccines as well as for Covid-19 specifically. I look forward to providing further updates in due course,” he added.

N4 Pharma shares (LON: N4P) are currently trading -32.29% at 6,50 (0841GMT).