Checkpoint inhibitors are immunotherapies that take the brakes off the immune system so it can attack cancer. Tumours often survive by switching on a "checkpoint" — the PD-1 receptor on T-cells, or its partner PD-L1 on the tumour surface — which tells the immune cell to stand down. These antibodies block that handshake, letting T-cells recognise and kill the cancer. PD-1 inhibitors bind the immune cell; PD-L1 inhibitors bind the tumour side of the same interaction.
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Plain-English summaries and drug-class explainers are written and reviewed by the Priya Life Science editorial team, led by Sreepriya Prasannan (MSc Digital Transformation of Life Sciences (Innopharma Education / Griffith College); MSc & BSc Botany). Data is retrieved automatically from the sources above and cross-checked with AI-assisted verification (Anthropic's Claude) — brand and generic names are matched against the exact FDA product record so that a combination product or a different formulation cannot be mistaken for the drug on this page. An editor reviews the result before publication. We describe this in full in our editorial standards and corrections policy. The FDA data on this page was last retrieved on 13 Aug 2026.