The field of cancer immunotherapy exploded in 2011 with the FDA approval of an utterly novel, so-called “checkpoint” drug, the anti-CTLA-4 agent, Yervoy. The fires of that first-in-class success ignited a drug development rocket – the approval of the checkpoint-targeting drugs Keytruda and Opdivo occurred shortly thereafter. But then came a lot of dark, cold space. Until now. Frederic Triebel, the founder of Immutep, explains how his discovery – the checkpoint molecule called LAG-3 – is finally ready to reach for the stars.