Dr. Abelardo Aguilar discovered it in 1949. He sent some soil samples to his employer Eli Lilly. Eli Lilly’s research team, led by J. M. McGuire, managed to isolate erythromycin from the metabolic products of a strain of Streptomyces erythreus (designation changed to "Saccharopolyspora erythraea") found in the samples.
Lilly filed for patent protection of the compound and U.S. patent 2,653,899 was granted in 1953. The product was launched commercially in 1952 under the brand name Ilosone (after the Philippine region of Iloilo where it was originally collected). Erythromycin was formerly also called Ilotycin.
Erythromycin is in a group of drugs called macrolide antibiotics. Macrolide antibiotics slow the growth of, or sometimes kill, sensitive bacteria by reducing the production of important proteins needed by the bacteria to survive. Erythromycin is used to treat many different types of infections caused by bacteria.
Like most other Filipino inventors and discoverers, Aguilar received no royalties from this product, which saved millions of lives.
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