Recent Patents on Drug Delivery & Formulation 2010, 4, 231-244 231 1872-2113/10 $100.00+.00 © 2010 Bentham Science Publishers Ltd. Patented Herbal Formulations and their Therapeutic Applications Mohamed Musthaba a , Sanjula Baboota a, *, Tanwir M.D. Athar b , Kamal Y. Thajudeen b , Sayeed Ahmed b and Javed Ali a a Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Hamdard University, Hamdard Nagar, New Delhi 110 062, India, b Department of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Hamdard University, Hamdard Nagar, New Delhi 110 062, India Received: January 21, 2010; Accepted: March 1, 2010; Revised: May 1, 2010 Abstract: Recently, there is a greater global interest in non synthetic, natural medicines derived from plant sources due to better tolerance and minimum adverse drug reactions as compared to synthetic medicines. Herbal products are also commonly used by the patients with certain chronic medical conditions, including breast cancer, liver disease, human immunodeficiency, asthma and rheumatological disorders. WHO estimates that about three-quarters of the world's population currently uses herbs and other forms of traditional medicines for the treatment of various diseases. The herbs are formulated in different modern dosage forms, such as Tablets, Capsules, Topical cream, Gel, Ointment and even some novel drug delivery forms, like extended release, sustained release, and microencapsules dosage forms. Patenting of herbal formulations has increased over the past few years and scientific evidence of therapeutic activity has been reported by performing various in vitro and in vivo experiments. This manuscript deals with various patented herbal formulations with their therapeutic application against various disases. Keywords: Ayurveda, herbal formulations, patents, polyherbal medicines, siddha, traditional remedies, unani. 1. INTRODUCTION Treatment of various diseases with herbal formulations has found a wide application in the field of pharmaceutical health care system. Phytotherapy has been practiced for thousands of years all over the world and has been an important part of ancient culture in countries, like India, China and Egypt. In recent decade, the use of phyto- therapeutics has significantly increased amongst patients and physicians as evident from an increased market for herbal medicines [1-3]. The global market for herbal medicines or plant derived drugs is expected to increase from $18 billion from 2005 to $26 billion by 2011 [4]. Introduction of herbals in the form of dietary supplements and nutraceuticals is other reason for increase in market share [5, 6]. Herbal drugs are in great demand in the developed and developing countries for primary healthcare for the reason of their wide biological activities, higher safety margins and lower costs. A large number of people use medicinal herbs as remedy for various diseases as they are safe, effective and better tolerated. The activity of the herbal drugs depends on overall function of a variety of active components, as all the constituents provide synergistic action and thus enhance the therapeutic value. The nature serves us with the exact proportion of all the constituents for various ailments in a single species. Each active constituent plays an important role and they are all related to each other [7-10]. Drugs from plant sources are perceived to have less risk and low side-effect profiles. Ayurveda, Siddha, and Unani are the ancient traditional system of medicine (TSM), which mentions a number Address correspondence to this author at the Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Hamdard University, New Delhi 110 062, India; Tel:/Fax: +91-11-26059633; E-mails: sbaboota@rediffmail.com, sbaboota@-jamiahamdard.ac.in of single and compound drug formulations of plant origin for the treatment of various disorders. In TSM com-pound, formulations are generally used in therapy, as such formu- lation provides a synergistic therapeutic effect and help to minimize the adverse effects of the major drugs [11]. Herbal formulations are being patented in recent years by various companies and institutes; however the number of patents being filed for herbal or plant origin formulation are less, as evidenced by analyzing a number of patents obtained or filed in different patenting authorities especially USPTO in past few years as shown in Table 1. Figures 1 & 2. The reason for less number of patents is that the herbal formu- lations need a novelty to obtain a patent, which requires scientific evidence of their pharmacological or pharmaco- dynamic property against the disease for which they are intended; however most of the companies which market or produce herbal formulations do not have the scientific evidence of their biological activity and they follow the orally transmitted traditional knowledge rather than the experimental evidence. Recently, some companies and institutes have started generating the proof of biological activity for their herbal formulations by different in vitro and in vivo experiments to acquire patents. Patenting of such formulations is useful as the herbal product can be placed in world markets with scientific confirmation of the treatment for specific disease. This article reviews the patented novel herbal formulations and their therapeutic application indented for various diseases like cancer, allergy, depression, ulcer, coronary heart disease, stroke, skin ailments, kidney disorder etc. 2. SKIN AILMENTS Mariana 2005 developed a composition of herbal extracts in the form of body wash, body spray and cream for treating