Vasaka Extract (Adhatoda)

Vasaka is the leaf of Justicia adhatoda L., the currently accepted name for the plant long catalogued as Adhatoda vasica Nees (family Acanthaceae). The Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India carries it as Vasa, defined on the dried leaf, and it is one of the most heavily traded leaf drugs in the Indian botanical supply chain. Thovek supplies the concentrated extract rather than the crude leaf, produced by hydro-alcoholic extraction of authenticated, sorted leaf and dried to a free-flowing powder on a plant-derived carrier where the buyer requires flow control. The compositional identity of the material rests on its quinazoline alkaloids. Vasicine (CAS 6159-55-3, C11H12N2O, MW 188.23) is the principal alkaloid, present in the raw leaf at roughly 0.5–1.1% of dry weight, and vasicinone (CAS 486-64-6, C11H10N2O2, MW 202.21) is the usual co-marker reported alongside it. Standard commercial grades run vasicine not less than 1.0% by HPLC and not less than 2.0% by HPLC, with combined-alkaloid grades (for example vasicine 0.8% with vasicinone 0.4%) and simple 4:1 and 10:1 ratio extracts also available. Every lot is released against an HPLC chromatogram with the reference standard lot number quoted, because gravimetric total-alkaloid figures and HPLC vasicine figures are not interchangeable and buyers routinely receive one when they specified the other. The material is of wholly plant origin: vegan, vegetarian, non-GMO, and free of milk, egg, soy, fish, crustacean, tree nut, peanut, sesame and gluten inputs, with no animal-derived processing aids used at any stage. Two commercial points deserve attention before a first order. Vasicine has a documented uterotonic and abortifacient profile in the toxicological literature, so brands normally carry a pregnancy avoidance statement and some markets restrict the botanical in food supplements; Justicia adhatoda is not uniformly cleared across EU member-state botanical lists. Confirm the status of the species in each destination market before committing to a launch, and treat this record as ingredient specification rather than regulatory advice.