Correction regarding the timeline, to be more specific:
The first CTLA-4 inhibitor, ipilimumab, was approved by the FDA in 2011.
The first PD-1 inhibitors, pembrolizumab and nivolumab, were approved in 2014
The foundational research leading to the blockbuster PD1 drugs that we have today preceded those first approvals by decades beginning in the 1980s and 1990s.
I think it’s important to appreciate that PD1 blockade technology didn’t come to fruition overnight.