Patent 8168645 was granted and assigned to Genentech on May, 2012 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
The invention relates generally to small molecules that mimic the biological activity of certain peptides and proteins, to compositions containing them and to their use. In particular, the invention relates to compounds of the general formula (I) that mimic the biological activity of BH3-only proteins and are capable of binding to and neutralizing pro-survival Bcl-2 proteins: