(Bloomberg) — Sales of GSK Plc’s main vaccines fell in the third quarter after the British drugmaker was hit by limited demand for them in the United States.

Arexvy, a respiratory syncytial virus vaccine, brought in £188 million ($245 million), while revenue from its shingles vaccine, Shingrix, came in at £739 million, both well lower than analysts’ estimates.

Arexvy was affected by an unexpected recommendation from US authorities to restrict access to adults aged 75 or older and patients at higher risk. GSK wanted the vaccine to be approved for people over 60. The number of prescriptions for Shingrix and Arexvy had already indicated a slowdown in sales this quarter, with analysts incorporating those figures into their models before the results were released.

GSK shares fell 4.1% in early trading in London and are now down 16% over the past six months.

The prioritization of Covid-19 vaccines in the United States has also affected sales of its vaccines, GSK said in a statement on Wednesday.

Poor vaccine sales have not hurt GSK’s mid- to long-term prospects for Arexvy or Shingrix, Chief Executive Officer Emma Walmsley said on a call with reporters. The drugmaker expects revaccination for Arexvy within three, four or five years, and there also remains significant room to reach more patients, she said.

Zantac dispute

Walmsley has bet on GSK’s vaccines business to revive the drugmaker and is also making progress in reviving other parts of the drug pipeline. This policy appears to be producing results and helping to keep activist investor Elliott Investment Management at bay. Now, slowing sales of key vaccines are hitting the stock, which failed to see the expected rise when the drugmaker earlier this month settled the majority of cases related to allegations that its former heartburn drug Zantac caused cancer.

The Zantac deal caused total operating profit to decline by 86%, although core operating profit increased by 5%, the pharmaceutical maker said.

Earnings per share excluding certain items came to 49.7 pence, above the estimate of analysts polled by Bloomberg. GSK reported better-than-expected sales of some HIV and asthma drugs, helping to offset poor vaccine sales.

The earnings per share pace and reiterated full-year guidance “are overshadowed by the weak performance of its Shingrix and Arexvy vaccines, which are likely to reignite growth concerns,” given that they account for more than 40% of incremental revenue growth over three years, John Murphy of Bloomberg Intelligence said in a note.

–With the help of Chloé Meley.

(Updated with CEO comments in paragraph six.)

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