Shares of Merck are sliding in early trading after the drugmaker surprised Wall Street with a lower-than-expected 2025 sales forecast due partly to a pause in shipments of one of its top-selling products to China. The drugmaker said it planned to temporarily pause shipments of its Gardasil vaccine to China through at least the middle of the year. Merck gave no explanation in its fourth-quarter earnings report for the pause. Gardasil vaccine protects against cancer-causing human papilloma virus infections. The pause announcement comes a month after Merck received approval in China for use of the vaccine in males.
