Merck shares plunge as company pauses Gardasil vaccine shipments in China, hurting 2025 outlook
Merck
on Tuesday issued full-year 2025 revenue King88bet Login guidance that fell short of Wall Street's expectations, as the company temporarily paused shipments of a key vaccine into China.
Shares of Merck closed 8% lower on Tuesday.
The pharmaceutical giant anticipates 2025 sales of $64.1 billion to $65.6 billion, lower than the $67.31 billion that analysts surveyed by LSEG had expected. In a release, the company said that sales kisaran reflects a decision to halt shipments of Gardasil into China beginning in February and going through at least mid-2025.
Gardasil is a vaccine that prevents cancer King88bet Slot from HPV, the most common sexually transmitted infection in the U.S. Investors have been unsettled over the past year by masalah with sales of that blockbuster shot in China, as the country makes up the majority of the product's international revenue.
The low end of Merck's revenue guidance assumes no further shipments in China, and less than $1 billion in sales at the high end.
Merck CEO Robert Davis said on an earnings call that Gardasil inventory in China "remains elevated at above normal levels," noting that permintaan for the shot has not recovered to the tingkat the company expected due to faktors such as softer consumer spending. The shipping pause will allow for a "more rapid reduction of excess inventory" and help dukungan the financial position of its commercialization mitra in China, Zhifei.
Davis said the company also hopes the King88bet Terpercaya shipping pause will help Gardasil return to a "more normal pasar dynamic," allowing underlying permintaan for the shot to absorb Zhifei's inventory. It's unclear how quickly Merck will be able to bring inventory levels down, he noted.
Merck withdrew its $11 billion annual sales sasaran for Gardasil given the "uncertain timing of an economic recovery in China," the company's CFO Caroline Litchfield said during the call on Tuesday. But she said the company believes there is still a "path" to that revenue goal.
Sales of the shot will likely be critical to Merck's usahas to offset losses from its top-selling cancer terapi Keytruda, which will lose exclusivity in 2028. Merck is hoping that Gardasil's expanded approval for men ages 9 to 26 in China will momentually help boost uptake of the shot.