Mechanistically acting anti-obesity compositions/formulations of natural origin: a patent review (2010–2021)

ABSTRACT

Introduction

Current health trends indicate that the rate of incidence of obesity has risen considerably. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) report 2017, the issue of obesity has grown to an epidemic proportion, with over 4 million people dying every year. Orlistat, a potent pancreatic lipase (PL) inhibitor for long-term treatment of obesity has been recently reported to cause hepatic and renal toxicities. Hence, there is a need to develop newer, safer and efficacious therapeutics that targets obesity and its associated disorders.

Areas covered

The present article attempts to review patents on compositions of natural origin that include either combination of two or more lead NPs/whole extract(s)/ mixture of one or more NPs/extracts from various plants and micro-organisms. Patents that were granted during the period 2010 to 2021 have been considered.

Expert opinion

The article highlights the recent trends in the rise of the global obesity population. Patents are classified based on the mechanism of action of extracts/NPs. It has been observed that in the years 2013, 2017 and 2019 maximum number of patents from China, South Korea, United States and Japan have been filed for the anti-obesity compositions.

KEYWORDS:

• Obesity
• plants
• micro-organisms
• extracts
• natural products
• combination

Article highlights

• Review focuses on the current trends in the rate of incidence of obesity and its related disorders, pathophysiology, and the current treatments available.

• Patents filed/granted on the anti-obesity compositions derived from medicinal plants and microorganism during 2010-2021 are reviewed.

• Several compositions have been developed and evaluated for in vitro and in vivo (preclinical & clinical) anti-obesity activity.

• Compositions were developed using whole plant or a part of plants like leaf, bark, roots, rhizome, etc. that have shown beneficial anti-obesity effects

This box summarizes key points contained in the article.

Supplemental material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Author’s contribution

PS, NT and TB have contributed in searching the patent literature. PS and AP have designed and written the manuscript.

Declaration of interest

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was not funded.