PLANTS AND PLANT-DERIVED PRODUCTS FOR THE TREATMENT OF PSORIASIS: THERAPEUTIC POTENTIAL AND INNOVATIONS IN THE FIELD

Abstract

Psoriasis is a chronic condition that affects the skin, nails, and joints and causes physical and emotional burdens. This disease is commonly treated with topical formulations, phototherapy, systemic drugs, or combined therapies. However, part of these treatments can cause side effects and are expensive and inaccessible to some people. Thus, there is a need to search for new therapeutic alternatives to treat psoriasis. Among them, the use of plant extracts stands out. The present study is a literature review that analyzes the therapeutic potential of medicinal plants occurring in Brazil and their derived products for treating psoriasis and presents an overview of the innovations on patents and the development of phytopharmaceutical drugs in this country. Scientific reports published in the last 25 years were obtained from several databases (e.g., PubMed, Science
Direct, Scielo) using the keywords “psoriasis”, “plant extract,” and “medicinal plant”. Furthermore, we analyzed patents obtained from the INPI database, using “psoriasis”, “plant extract,” and “formulation” as keywords. The studies analyzed demonstrated the efficacy of medicinal plants and their metabolites for treating psoriasis, and the compiled data about innovations in the field of phytotherapy showed that the plantderived drug industry is still moving forward in Brazil. These findings, therefore, contribute to the further
consolidation of plant-based therapies more accessible and effective for treating psoriasis.