There are loads of drugs based on natural ingredients. Most pharmaceutical companies employ ethnobotanists. If there is a useful compound in a natural drug, it’s extracted or duplicated. the dose is standardized. The chemical fine-tuned. Think of all the opioids (poppies). Or aspirin (willow bark). Curcumin is currently being studied because it seems very effective for kidney cancer.

They can definitely patent things from natural ingredients. You can like that or not, but a standardized dose is very desirable for serious illnesses.

Foods with huge health benefits are usually not given this treatment, but there are still great peer-reviewed studies about a lot of them.