Bacopa monnieri capsules (Brahmi)

A finished dosage form built on standardised Bacopa monnieri (L.) Wettst., also published as B. monnieri (L.) Pennell, family Plantaginaceae - the family that older texts and several monographs still record as Scrophulariaceae. Trade and vernacular names include brahmi, jala-brahmi, neer brahmi, water hyssop, herb of grace, Indian pennywort and thyme-leafed gratiola; botanical synonyms include Bramia monnieri (L.) Pennell, Herpestis monnieria (L.) Kunth and Gratiola monnieria L. The plant part is the dried whole herb, meaning the aerial stems and leaves specified in the Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India and in the USP Bacopa monograph. Root-bearing or soil-contaminated material is a rejection, not a discount, and the incoming goods specification should say so. Standardisation is on total bacosides, the dammarane-type triterpenoid saponins built on jujubogenin and pseudo-jujubogenin aglycones. 'Bacoside A' is itself a mixture and is reported as four saponins: bacoside A3, bacopaside II, the jujubogenin isomer of bacopasaponin C, and bacopasaponin C. The wider bacopaside I to XII series sits alongside them, together with hersaponin, monnierasides I-III, apigenin, plantainoside B, D-mannitol and the alkaloids brahmine and herpestine. Two numbers circulate in this trade and they are not the same number: UV spectrophotometry returns higher apparent totals than USP-method reverse-phase HPLC summing the individual glycosides, so a 50% UV grade and a 20% HPLC grade can describe broadly similar material. Fix the method on the specification and on the certificate of analysis and audit incoming lots against it. Identity control also has to exclude Centella asiatica, which is sold as 'brahmi' in parts of India and is a documented substitution: TLC or HPTLC fingerprint plus HPLC marker confirmation on every lot. Supplied in size 0 or size 00 capsules, per-capsule extract loading set to the buyer's label, on a standard HPMC shell that keeps the product vegan with no bovine or porcine input. The extract is hydroalcoholic and carrier-free at standard assays; where dilution is needed, state the carrier in writing, because corn-derived maltodextrin and rice flour carry different clean-label and allergen consequences. Lots are released against HPLC assay, heavy-metal and pesticide-residue limits, and USP <2021>/<2022> microbial criteria, with non-irradiated and organic-certified (NPOP, NOP, EU) fractions available. Two commercial notes before label sign-off. Brahmi has a long Indian food and Ayurvedic history, but confirm its current standing in the FSSAI nutraceutical schedules and in your destination market's permitted-botanical list rather than assuming it. And there are branded, clinically studied bacopa articles on the market owned by other companies: this is generic standardised bacopa specified on its own chemistry, and neither the label nor the sales copy may use those names or imply equivalence to them.