Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41830344›Full record

Trial reportClinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America2026

Safety and Tolerability of Oral Islatravir Once Monthly as Pre-exposure Prophylaxis in Cisgender Men and Transgender Women Who Have an Elevated Likelihood of HIV-1 Exposure: Results From the IMPOWER-24 Randomized Phase 3 Study.

Raphael J Landovitz, Yvett Pinedo, Federico Hinestrosa, Gordon E Crofoot, Cynthia Brinson, Susan Buchbinder, Jean-Michel Molina, Ronnie M Gravett, James B Brock, Moti N Ramgopal and 27 more

Registry-linked trialAbstract readRandomized Controlled TrialClinical Trial, Phase III
In one paragraph

Trial report in Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04652700 (A Phase 3, Randomized, Active-Controlled, Double-Blind Clinical Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of Oral Islatravir Once-Monthly as Preexposure Prophylaxis in Cisgender Men and Transgender Women Who Have Sex With Men, and Are at High Risk for HIV-1 Infection), which is not on this map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT04652700 phase3terminatednot on this map

A Phase 3, Randomized, Active-Controlled, Double-Blind Clinical Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of Oral Islatravir Once-Monthly as Preexposure Prophylaxis in Cisgender Men and Transgender Women Who Have Sex With Men, and Are at High Risk for HIV-1 Infection

TypeinterventionalSponsorMerck Sharp & Dohme LLCRan2021 to 2023Enrolled494ConditionsHIV Preexposure ProphylaxisArmsISL, FTC/TDF, FTC/TAF, Placebo to ISL, Placebo to FTC/TDF
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

37 authors.

Raphael J LandovitzDepartment of Medicine, UCLA Center for Clinical AIDS Research and Education, Los Angeles, California, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-1442-714X
Yvett PinedoClinical Research Unit, Via Libre, Lima, Peru.
Federico HinestrosaDepartment of Infectious Diseases, Orlando Immunology Center, Orlando, Florida, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-3687-8168
Gordon E CrofootThe Crofoot Research Center, Houston, Texas, USA.
Cynthia BrinsonCentral Texas Clinical Research, Austin, Texas, USA.
Susan BuchbinderPopulation Health Division, San Francisco Department of Health, San Francisco, California, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-2404-0712
Jean-Michel MolinaDepartment of Infectious Diseases, Paris Cité University, Paris, France.
Ronnie M GravettDivision of Infectious Diseases, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA.
James B BrockDepartment of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, Mississippi, USA.
Moti N RamgopalMidway Immunology and Research Center, Fort Pierce, Florida, USA.
A Lina RosengrenDivision of Infectious Diseases, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-4256-706X
Igho OfotokunDepartment of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-2735-1903
Jose Valdez MadrugaCentro de Referência e Treinamento DST/AIDS-SP, São Paulo, Brazil.
Geoffroy LiegeonDepartment of Infectious Diseases, Paris Cité University, Paris, France.ORCID 0000-0003-1267-4347
Ravindre PanchiaSchool of Public Health, Perinatal HIV Research Unit (PHRU)-HIV Prevention CRS, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Khuanchai SupparatpinyoResearch Institute for Health Sciences, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Anchalee AvihingsanonHIV-NAT, Thai Red Cross AIDS and Infectious Diseases Research Centre and Center of Excellence in Tuberculosis, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.
Catherine CreticosHoward Brown Health Center, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Shobha SwaminathanDivision of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-8609-3073
Susanne Doblecki-LewisDivision of Infectious Diseases, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, Florida, USA.
Jorge RodriguezGlobal Research Institute, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Marc SiegelSchool of Medicine and Health Sciences, George Washington University, Washington DC, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-9029-8389
Shinichi OkaAIDS Clinical Center, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
Thanyawee PuthanakitDepartment of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.
Beatriz GrinsztejnEvandro Chagas National Institute of Infectious Diseases-Fiocruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Eduard J SandersImplementation Research Division, Aurum Institute, Johannesburg, South Africa.ORCID 0000-0002-1062-8921
Javier R LamaDepartment of Research, Asociación Civil Impacta Salud y Educación, Lima, Peru.ORCID 0000-0002-4983-5725
Johannes LombaardJosha Research, Bloemfontein, South Africa.
Nkosiphile NdlovuWits RHI, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.ORCID 0009-0008-3206-9666
Peggy HwangMRL, Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, New Jersey, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-9900-1780
Jiejun DuMRL, Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, New Jersey, USA.
Beth JacksonMRL, Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, New Jersey, USA.
Brenda HomonyMRL, Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, New Jersey, USA.
Barbara EvansMRL, Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, New Jersey, USA.
Peter SklarMRL, Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, New Jersey, USA.ORCID 0009-0000-7071-6942
Michael N RobertsonMRL, Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, New Jersey, USA.ORCID 0009-0001-0022-4755
Rebeca M PlankMRL, Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, New Jersey, USA.

Funding

Merck & Co., Inc.Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundIslatravir once monthly (qm), a nucleoside reverse transcriptase translocation inhibitor with a long half-life, was evaluated for safety and tolerability in cisgender men and transgender women who have sex with men and are at increased likelihood of HIV-1 (HIV) exposure.

methodsIMPOWER-24 (NCT04652700) was a double-blind, Phase 3 study. Participants were randomized 2:1 to islatravir 60 mg oral qm or emtricitabine (FTC; 200 mg) coformulated with either tenofovir disoproxil (245 mg) or tenofovir alafenamide (TAF; 25 mg) once daily (qd). After ∼9 months, blinded islatravir was discontinued due to lymphocyte reductions; participants were offered open-label comparator for 20 months.

resultsIn total, 494 participants were enrolled (328 islatravir; 166 comparator): 91.5% were cisgender men, 41.7% were White, and median age was 27 years. Mean blinded dosing duration was 4.7 months (islatravir) versus 4.3 months (comparator). Overall, 211 participants (64.3%) in the islatravir group and 128 (77.1%) in the comparator group had ≥1 adverse event (AE). Most AEs were mild or moderate, with 1 AE leading to product discontinuation (islatravir; gastroesophageal reflux). Serious AEs occurred in <2%; none were related to study product. Change in total lymphocytes in the islatravir group at Month 3 was -7.4%; a trend toward recovery was observed after islatravir was stopped. Mean total lymphocytes remained within normal range. No HIV infections occurred in either group during the double-blind phase.

conclusionsIslatravir qm was generally well tolerated; decreases in total lymphocytes were observed with islatravir. Original primary efficacy objectives were not assessed due to early study stoppage.

Indexed as

Anti-HIV AgentsDeoxyadenosinesHIV InfectionsPre-Exposure ProphylaxisTransgender PersonsAdenineAdministration, OralAdultDouble-Blind MethodFemaleHIV-1HumansMaleMiddle AgedTenofovirYoung AdultAdenineAnti-HIV AgentsDeoxyadenosinesislatravirTenofovircisgender menHIV-1 preventionislatravirPrEPtransgender women

Identifiers

PMID41830344
PMCPMC13537127

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Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.