“We remain confident in the outlook for our launch products and continued growth across oncology and Animal Health as well as our return to growth in the second half of the year.”

In context

“f additional potential government actions. Operating expenses are now assumed to be between $25.6 billion and $26.4 billion. This range continues to include the $300 million milestone to LaNova for the tech transfer that was completed earlier this month. This guidance does not assume the proposed acquisition of Verona or additional significant potential business development transactions. Other expense is expected to be between $300 million and $400 million. We now assume a full year tax rate between 15% and 16%. We assume approximately 2.51 billion shares outstanding. Taken together, our EPS guidance is $8.87 to $8.97. This range includes a negative impact from foreign exchange of approximately $0.15 using mid-July rates. As you consider your models, there are a few items to keep in mind. We remain confident in the outlook for our launch products and continued growth across oncology and Animal Health as well as our return to growth in the second half of the year. In China, GARDASIL channel inventories remain elevated and demand continues to be soft. As a result, we will not resume shipments to China through at least the end of this year. As we look to the balance of the year for GARDASIL, Japan will be a more significant headwind to growth in the second half of the year as we lap the increase in vaccinations from the catch-up cohort in 2024. Overall, we expect full year growth for GARDASIL, excluding China. Next, we expect other revenue to be significantly lower in the second half of the year. While we actively manage the impact from foreign exchange through our revenue hedging program, based on mid-July rates, we expect to see a negative impact from our hedges, which is reflected in other revenue. Finally, we expect operating expenses to be rough”