Anthracyclines are powerful chemotherapy drugs, but cancer cells can resist them by building efflux pumps—proteins that act like molecular “bouncers,” kicking drugs out of the cell. The Hemann, Yilmaz and Lippard labs have designed a “dual warhead” that retains anthracyclines’ cancer-killing power while circumventing efflux by adding features of platinum-based chemotherapies. A Nature Communications study demonstrates that the drug conjugate extended survival in mouse models of metastatic colon cancer and suggests new opportunities to combat chemoresistance and augment existing chemotherapeutics. This work was partly funded by the Koch Institute Frontier Research Program via the Casey and Family Foundation Cancer Research Fund and the Michael (1957) and Inara Erdei Fund.