Pharmaceutical composition and functional health food for preventing or treating macular degeneration

Inventors

WON, Cheol Hee • Kim, Jun

Assignees

Lemonex Inc

Abstract

A composition according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes a banaba leaf extract, a guava leaf extract or a mixture thereof. The composition inhibits photooxidation of A2E due to blue light, inhibits a death of retinal pigment epithelial cells induced by blue light, and inhibits a damage to outer nuclear layers of visual cells in an animal model with blue light-induced macular degeneration, and thus can be beneficially used as a composition for preventing or treating macular degeneration and as a health functional food for preventing or alleviating macular degeneration.

Core Innovation

The disclosure describes pharmaceutical compositions and health functional foods for preventing or treating macular degeneration. The compositions include banaba leaf extract and/or guava leaf extract, where the banaba leaf extract is administered to a subject in need thereof in an effective amount for treating macular degeneration.

The disclosure addresses a problem in macular degeneration by targeting blue-light-induced A2E photooxidation and related retinal damage. It states that the banaba leaf extract and/or guava leaf extract can inhibit blue-light-induced A2E photooxidation and protect against blue-light-induced retinal pigment epithelial cell death.

In particular, the disclosure reports protection against blue-light-induced retinal pigment epithelial (ARPE-19) cell death and prevention of outer nuclear layer (ONL) damage in a blue-light-induced macular degeneration animal model. It further describes experimental results comparing banaba, guava, and their mixture versus control and lutein.

Claims Coverage

The partial disclosure contains one independent claim directed to a method of treating macular degeneration by administering a banaba leaf extract composition. The dependent claims refine the independent claim by adding guava leaf extract, specifying extraction solvent components (water and C1–C4 alcohol; optionally methanol or ethanol), and constraining the composition to a pharmaceutical composition including excipients.

Across the independent and dependent claims, the core coverage is treatment of macular degeneration by administering an effective amount of banaba leaf extract, with further claim refinement that can add guava leaf extract and specify banaba extraction solvents (water/C1–C4 alcohol and optionally methanol/ethanol). Additional dependent coverage constrains the composition to a pharmaceutical composition with an excipient.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications