The Demuris actinomycete collection presently includes over ten thousand highly diverse bacterial isolates. Many have the potential to produce multiple bioactive molecules. The strains are being systematically revived, catalogued and screened for various antibacterial and antifungal activities. To date, about 3000 strains have been screened, generating a large number of hit molecules that are being characterised as potential starting points for drug development.

Demuris applies a platform of screening methods that avoid rediscovery of previously characterised molecules. Scores of promising activities have been found, which are being prioritised for entry into the development pipelines (shown below).

Primary screening will be complete by the end of 2012, by which time multiple promising molecules will be poised for optimisation and development.