BERNARDO, PAUL CEDRIC

2 - IBIO
“Drugs and Rights” is a scientific news article, written by the columnist Michael L. Tan of the
Philippine Daily Inquirer. This news article talks about the story and the success of erythromycin and its
controversies. Unbeknownst to most people, the antibiotic erythromycin was discovered in Iloilo by a
Filipino physician, named Abelardo Aguilar. Certain soil from Iloilo displayed antimicrobial activity and was
sent to his employer, Eli Lilly, an international pharmaceutical company. From that point in time,
erythromycin was developed and was successfully produced, helping a lot of people diseases and
infections.

Wondrous it may seem, however the story if full of controversies. The company Eli Lilly claimed
the patent rights in the discovery of erythromycin. Neither did the company acknowledge Dr. Aguilar nor
gave him the patent rights of the antibiotic. He died, never getting any credits from the company after
appealing multiple times; his daughter now took his fight. As of the present, Eli Lilly is still not giving the
patent rights to Dr. Aguilar.

From a technical point of view, patents are held by the company. Anything developed from a
company is patented by the company itself. After all, Dr. Aguilar is a scientist and drug representative of
Eli Lilly and all his research is funded by the company. His antibiotic discovery would not be possible with
the help of Eli Lilly. Eli Lilly also developed and named their product, holding the patent in the drug and
the brand name.

It also protects the company and the product for infringement claims. If Dr. Aguilar held the patent
of the antibiotic, there might be a high possibility that a large and powerful company could claim and
invalidate the patent to the Filipino scientist. The lack of publicity and recognition in Dr. Aguilar's research
works can be the common ground for revoking his discovery in the antibiotic. In other words, it is safer to
give the rights to the that you’re with to ensure protection from a third party.

As a scientist, recognition must be given for what he/she what significantly contributed, especially
in the field of medicine. While the company or the institution has patent of that certain product or study,
the scientist/s should be credited. In the case of erythromycin discovery, it is observed that there is an
unfair treatment of the company to the Filipino scientist. Ely Lilly made a wrong mistake by claiming both
erythromycin and their products without recognizing Dr. Aguilar and his team. Despite the combined effort
of appealing to many people, the company did not bother. What’s even worst is that they stated that no
employees were involved in the discovery and development and no recognition was given.

In my opinion, not recognizing a person for his/her works is indifferent to stealing. The
controversy in erythromycin is an example of exploitation. To plagiarize someone’s thought and ideas are
like wasting the person’s endeavor in their study. It wastes the person to acquire new opportunities and to
have the potential to become a renowned scientist. In the end, the opportunist got all the recognition while
the scientist has nothing to get.

The root cause of this controversy is undue capitalism. Pharmaceutical companies exploit their
scientists to benefit more. Even if the patent of erythromycin belongs to Ely Lilly, Dr. Aguilar deserves
recognition. The Philippine government should continue the fight and appeal once more to the
pharmaceutical company. The patent system should also be adjusted to fully recognize all scientists and
to protect their rights in their works.