Washington, Aug 4: American pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly and Company has announced the start of its phase 3 trial to study whether one of its experimental COVID-19 antibody treatments can prevent the virus infection in residents and staff at long-term care facilities.

LY-CoV555, the lead antibody from Lilly's collaboration with Canadian biotech AbCellera, is a neutralizing antibody against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, reports Xinhua news agency.

More than 40 per cent of coronavirus deaths in the US linked to long-term care facilities creates the urgent need for therapies to prevent COVID-19 in this vulnerable population, Eli Lilly and Company said in a release on Monday. COVID-19 Vaccine: PGI-Chandigarh Among 17 Trial Sites in India for Conducting 2-3 Phases of Human Clinical Trials for Oxford Vaccine.

The first-of-its-kind study is expected to enrol up to 2,400 participants who live or work at facilities that have had a recently diagnosed case of COVID-19 and who are now at a high risk of exposure.

It will evaluate the efficacy and safety of LY-CoV555 for the prevention of SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19, testing whether a single dose of LY-CoV555 reduces the rate of SARS-CoV-2 infection through 4 weeks, as well as complications of COVID-19 through 8 weeks, said the company.

"COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on nursing home residents," said Daniel Skovronsky, Lilly's chief scientific officer and president of Lilly Research Laboratories, in a statement.

"We're working as fast as we can to create medicines that might stop the spread of the virus to these vulnerable individuals."

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 04, 2020 11:08 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).