So Jonathan, we feel really confident that we can continue to perform strongly going forward.
Operator: Now we’re going to take our next question. And the next question comes from the line of Michael Schmidt.
Paul Jeng: This is Paul on for Michael. My question was touched on a bit in prior questions. But generally, what can we expect from your immunology efforts in the coming year, either internally or externally? Is this possibly an area of BD focus? And then along those lines, on your collaboration with Argenx, which I think is approaching a year, any near-term plans to disclose a target or program from that either in oncology or immunology?
Jan van de Winkel: I think I can handle those questions. So we have a lot of activity in the I&I area. And these are twofold, basically. We have our own programs. We have a number of programs with is Genmab working on itself. And we actually have a number of programs, and we actually expanded the number together with Argenx, where we actually work in I&I as well as in oncology. This year, you’ll probably not hear a lot from those programs, Paul, because we only actually speak about these programs once we have a clinical candidate selected to move into the clinic imminently because we learned that in the hard way. In the past, we don’t get any credit basically for early-stage programs, which you flag up. But we get credit once they move into the clinic, and they begin to build further value for the company, for stakeholders.
And so it is not from the Argenx or from our own programs. I think they are two early stages. We are in the process of selecting the clinical candidates. But we are certainly looking as it relates to investments in BD into candidates outside of the company, and that could be a repo to actually accelerate the development in the I&I area for Genmab by simply acquiring a product candidate in late-stage development or even commercial stage to develop further. And then as Anthony Pagano explained, leverage our considerable investments in development and also large-scale development of antibody-based medicines in that area. I think it’s too early to say more explicitly speak about that. But we certainly are looking very, very proactively at the landscape.
And we are looking at some candidate targets and timing is very difficult to give further color on. But actually, that is a realistic area where you could see progress from Genmab in 2024. I think we should move on to the next question, operator?
Operator: Now we’re going to take our last question for today. And it comes from the line of Peter Welford.
Peter Welford: So just a question on the outlook, please. I guess, for Anthony. Really, the question is — so I’m trying to just piece together the pieces as far as — you talk about the fact that the reimbursement revenue that you’re assuming within 2024, is going to decrease. But equally, you talked about a significant part of the investment in R&D is related to 1042 and 1046, which obviously are shared, I guess, with BioNTech. So I guess I’m trying to square that given that presumably 50% will be paid back to you. And equally, why the gross profit guidance less the forecast for the operating expenses doesn’t give you the EBIT outlook. So what the sort of disparity is to get from gross profit down to EBIT based on your OpEx outlook?
Jan van de Winkel: Thanks, Peter. Anthony?
Anthony Pagano: Yes. Thanks, Peter. In terms of the reimbursement revenue and what you’re pointing out, that number coming down, but investment in 1042 and 1046 and other BioNTech partnered programs going up, this is all true and both true at the same time. In terms of what’s driving that, there are probably — there are two things. First is the composition of the work that’s being done by the parties. So to the extent that BioNTech is doing more work for certain of the programs, that will not flow through reimbursement revenue, will only pick up half of the cost. And secondly, for some of the larger investments we’re making for 1042 and 1046, we have just looked at our overall setup with BioNTech in terms of how some of those contracts are set up with third parties and looking to optimize our cash flow.
And some of that then translates through into slightly different accounting where I’m only picking up half of the cost in my P&L and not picking up 100% like we have done historically and then 50% coming back through the reimbursement line, Peter. In terms of your more granular question on this sort of very specific thing. I’m going to have to suggest that we take that, have you follow-up with Andrew, we can work through the mechanics of your other question as it relates to how the P&L all flows together.
Operator: Thank you. There are no further questions for today. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker, Jan van de Winkel for any closing remarks.
Jan van de Winkel: So thank you all for calling in today to discuss general financial results for 2023. And if you have additional questions, that is certainly possible, then please reach out to the Investor Relations colleagues from Genmab. We hope that you all stay safe, keep optimistic and remain healthy, and we very much look forward to speaking with you all again soon.
Operator: That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now all disconnect. Have a nice day.
