The rapid clearance of circulating nanocarriers in blood during systemic drug delivery remains a challenging hurdle in cancer chemotherapy. Here, inspired by the unique features of bacterial pathogens, an original biodegradable polymer micellar system with a rod-like shape similar to the morphology of bacterial pathogens is developed. These novel nanocarriers have excellent features such as a great capacity of overcoming the rapid clearance of reticuloendothelial system (RES) with long blood circulation, high cellular internalization, and enhanced therapeutic efficacy against cancers. In vivo pharmacokinetic studies in mice reveal that the rod-like micelles of approximate to 40 nm in diameter and 600 nm in length possess a minimal uptake by the RES and excellent blood circulation half-lives (t(1/2 beta) = 24.23 +/- 2.87 h) for carrying doxorubicin in contrast to spheres (t(1/2 beta) = 8.39 +/- 0.53 h). The antitumor activity of the rod-shaped micelles in Balb/c mice bearing H22 tumor xenograft models reveals that they are promptly internalized by tumor cells, resulting in their superior potency and efficacy against artificial solid tumors. These findings suggest that the bio-inspired nanocarriers as an emerging drug delivery platform may have considerable benefits for enhancing the delivery efficiency of anticancer drugs and in turn enhancing cancer therapy in future clinical applications.