Shares of Vical tumbled after the company reported its experimental cancer immunotherapy failed in a late-stage clinical trial as a treatment for skin cancer that had spread to other parts of the body.

Vical’s shares sunk nearly 60 percent to close August 12 at $1.53, down $2.05 cents for the day.

The company says a 390-subject trial failed to demonstrate a statistically significant improvement in patients treated with its drug Allovectin compared to patients treated with first-line chemotherapy for either the primary or secondary endpoint of the study. The primary endpoint was the objective response rate at 24 weeks or more after randomization, and the secondary endpoint of the study was overall survival.

“The key information that we released today is that the trial did not meet either the primary or secondary efficacy endpoints and the program is terminated,” Vijay Samant said during a conference call with analysts posted on Seeking Alpha. “There is absolutely no ambiguity here, okay. The results were conclusive.”

Samant said the company will focus its resources on its infectious disease vaccine programs and cut spending to conserve cash. As of June 30, 2013, the company reported cash and investments of $70 million. That should be enough to carry Vical through the end of 2014, the company says.

During the call Cowen & Company analyst Eric Schmidt noted that it’s been well more than 20 years that Vical has worked on DNA-based delivery technology without a major success. He asked whether the company would consider winding down operations among its alternatives.

Samant told him “No,” saying that the failure of Allovectin was not related to the company’s DNA platform, but instead had to do with the specific application in the cancer.

“We are committed to this platform,” he said. “We are committed to advancing the programs to turn the pipeline and we are open to other opportunities.”