Among symmetrical derivatives, compound 9, a symmetrical tetrabrominated analog of marinopyrrole A, demonstrated increased potency against the Bcl-2 family with IC50 values of 4.5 μM for Mcl-1/Bim and 7.3 μM for Bcl-xL/Bim, a ~2-fold improvement over marinopyrrole A. Compound 9 also induced caspase 3 cleavage in the cancer cell line MDA-MB-468, indicating the induction of apoptosis. The gene discussed is BCL2L11; the disease is cancer.