Merck shares fall after drop in China HPV vaccine sales

Shares of Merck fell 9% Tuesday after the company reported that in the second quarter, it saw a decrease in shipments of its HPV vaccine Gardasil in China, a significant market for the drug.

The company brought in $2.48 billion in sales of Gardasil in the second quarter, slightly lower than estimates of $2.5 billion made by analysts polled by Visible Alpha.

“The reductions during the second quarter was surprising, and I would point out was a meaningful departure from prior trends,” Merck’s CEO Rob Davis said. The company needs to understand if this is “a short-term event or something else, and that’s still not clear.”

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