| Summary: | This study aims to analyze the patent documents concerning the uses of medicinally active plants (MAPs) in relation to COVID-19 during the last four years. Hereinafter, we demonstrate that MAPs, such as those in the <i>Lamiaceae</i> family, can be a fast, healthy, and efficient recourse for designing new drugs or compositions to face new health challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The patent documents concerning sage (<i>Salvia</i>), basil (<i>Ocimum</i>), lavender (<i>Lavandula</i>), and marjoram (<i>Origanum</i>) were searched through different specialized databases by using relevant keywords, and the search was performed on the titles, abstracts, and claims. The state of the art in the field was established by extracting data related to publication dates, patent families, patent classifications, applicants, and jurisdictions from the patent documents. Since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, about a hundred patent documents linking the studied plants to the coronavirus have been found. Through our case study, we found that most of the patent applications were filed under international jurisdiction by pharmaceutical companies as applicants. Based on the patent classification, most of the claimed inventions are indeed medicinal preparations characterized by being made with <i>Lamiaceae</i> or having antiviral activities. Finally, the relevant patent documents demonstrate a particular interest in the valorization of bioactive compounds derived from <i>Lamiaceae</i> to improve human defense mechanisms as well as compositions or methods for treating and preventing a coronavirus infection. However, the <i>Salvia</i> genus is the most useful for preventing and/or curing SARS-CoV-2 infection.
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