Philippine Science Trivia

Dr. Aguilar’s Discovery- Erythromycin

Dr. Abellardo Aguillar was a scientist from the Philippines. He was working for Eli Lily Co. A
pharmaceutical company based in the United States. In 1949, he collected some soil in his
backyard –to study it- and he isolated the bacteria which is a strain of Streptomyces Erythereus.
This would lead to the discovery and development of Erythromycin. This is an antibiotic that
aims to treat and prevent multiple kinds of body infection.

This discovery was essential in the world of medicine and has helped millions of patients.
Erythromycin can kill bacterial infections and is now being used worldwide. But unfortunately,
proper recognition wasn’t given to the Filipino scientist. The pharmaceutical company [Eli Lily
Co.] proceeded to patent the discovery without giving royalties to Dr. Aguillar, thus he couldn’t
receive compensation for his work. Later, Dr. Aguillar would proceed to sue the company,
lasting for 40 years, and unfortunately ended when he passed away.

References:
Seereeram, S. (2020). Dr. Agullar’s Antibiotic Discovery in the Philippines. CMIM. Retrieved
from https://multiculturalmuseums.org/english-blog-version-teachers/dr-aguilars-antibiotic-
discovery-in-the-philippines