The 2018 Nobel Prize announcement recognized the discovery of the “entirely new principle for cancer therapy” of negative immune regulation. It also cited the pharmaceutical industry’s lack of interest. Ultimately, a small biotech company developed both the anti-CTLA-4 antibody Yervoy/ipilimumab, based on James Allison’s work, and the anti-PD-1 antibody Opdivo/nivolumab based on Tasuku Honjo’s work. This talk will discuss why pharmaceutical companies were not interested, why these products were developed by the biotech company Medarex, and how this example highlights the results of new research into the origins of the most innovative medicines of the past two decades.