Merck, Pfizer Wade into a New World for Vaccines
Pharma giant Merck on Tuesday announced in its earnings report that it would halt all shipments of HPV drug Gardasil to China.

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Vaccine-makers sure could use some inoculation from recent marketplace maladies.
In a crushing blow, pharma giant Merck on Tuesday announced in its earnings report that it would halt all shipments of HPV drug Gardasil to China as “market dynamics remain challenging.” The news comes just a day after Pfizer’s earnings call showed yet another substantial drop in demand for its Covid jab. And all while noted vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. trudges closer and closer to Senate confirmation to lead the US Department of Health and Human Services.
Call Your Shot
Merck has been staring down the barrel of a China problem for months now. In July, the company lowered its guidance for 2024 in large part due to slower than expected Gardasil sales in the nation, a market that was expected to propel the vaccine to blockbuster status and fill a looming void for the company once its Keytruda patent expires in 2028. On Tuesday, Merck said Gardasil shipments to China would stop until at least midyear (though the firm will continue selling its current supply there). Merck also rescinded its forecast of $11 billion in sales for the vaccine this year.
The result? Merck’s biggest intraday trading loss in nearly five years: Shares of Merck closed down around 9%. But the company was hardly the only pharma player feeling the heat on Tuesday, as the Republican-controlled Senate Finance Committee advanced RFK Jr.’s nomination to lead HHS:
- Shares of Pfizer were down over 1%, shares of BioNTech were down over 2%, and shares of Moderna fell 6.5%. Also notable were dips in the shares of snack food companies, which are similarly in the crosshairs of the Make America Healthy Again campaign; shares of Hershey’s, Kraft Heinz, Mondelez, and General Mills were all down around 2%.
- Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, a medical doctor who turned into the key swing vote on the committee, said he ultimately voted to advance RFK’s nomination after receiving “serious commitments” on tackling shared issues, like healthy foods. Cassidy had previously expressed deep concerns with Kennedy’s vaccine skepticism.
Up and Down: Pfizer, meanwhile, had a slightly more mercurial week. On the one hand, sales of its Covid shot continued to fall off a cliff, with revenue for its vaccine down some $2 billion in the last three months of 2024, compared with a year earlier. But its other Covid products — namely the antiviral treatment pill Paxlovid — are seeing strong demand. Paxlovid generated $727 million in the quarter, a massive U-turn from the year before when a non-cash accounting adjustment dragged revenue $3.1 billion into the red.