Merck said on Tuesday it would not ship its HPV vaccine Gardasil in China until at least the middle of this year due to weak discretionary spending, a move that dented its full-year forecast and sent shares tumbling over 8% in premarket trading.

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.

Merck & Co Inc (NYSE:MRK) reported fourth-quarter sales of $15.62 billion, up 7% year over year and slightly beating the consensus estimate of $15.49 billion. Excluding the impact of foreign exchange,