Chinese consumers, once the engine of growth for multinational companies, are cutting back on all kinds of things. Designer handbags, luxury face creams and trips to Paris have all fallen victim to changing habits. Now there’s a new one for the list: cancer prevention vaccines.

Merck, which makes the commonly used Gardasil shot, has shed 14 per cent of its market value since announcing last week that it expects to sell less of its human papillomavirus vaccine in China than hoped. Demand for the shot, which costs patients up to $550, has fallen so much that Merck has temporarily suspended shipments to the country. It has also ditched its goal of making $11bn in Gardasil revenue by 2030.

After its cancer treatment Keytruda, Gardasil is Merck’s top-selling drug, with $8.6bn of revenue in 2024. Given its stumble, it will be less helpful in offsetting the decline in revenues when Keytruda’s patent expires in 2028 and the drug — which currently produces about half of Merck’s pharmaceutical sales — is exposed to competition.