Staurosporine, along with such examples as penicillin, aspirin, ivermectin and sildenafil, exemplifies the function that serendipity has in drug discovery and why ‘finding things without really trying to find them’ maintains a leading role in drug discovery. Formerly not clinically helpful, because of its potency and promiscuity, new delivery technologies are opening new horizons for which was formerly only the parent compound of innovative, highly-effective anti-cancer agents.