Development and Evaluation of PEGylated Polymer Functionalized Magnetic Nanoparticles for Controlled Delivery of Sunitinib Malate: Study of Drug Release Kinetic

Abstract

Sunitinib malate (STB) is an effective multi‐target tyrosine kinase inhibitor used against several cancers, but its use is limited by non‐specific distribution, low bioavailability, and poor water solubility. This study explores nanocarrier‐based delivery systems to improve STB's therapeutic efficiency. Specifically, we propose the use of a PEGylated polymer conjugated with magnetic nanoparticles as a nanocarrier for the targeted delivery of STB. The operating factors effect (i.e., pH, adsorbent dosage, and contact time) on the STB adsorption efficiency was studied by using batch experiments. Optimal conditions yielded a high adsorption capacity of 22.77 mg g −1 . The findings imply that the adsorption process primarily proceeds via monolayer adsorption, driven by a physisorption mechanism. Thermodynamic evaluation additionally revealed that the sorption process is endothermic, thermodynamically advantageous, and spontaneous. The drug release was pH‐responsive, with significantly higher release in simulated cancer fluid (95.28%) than in human blood fluid (50.37%) within 6 h. The release kinetic fitted a Higuchi model and the release mechanism followed a non‐Fickian diffusion. This nanocarrier shows promise as a novel platform for targeted cancer therapy. This proposed nanocarrier could be a novel therapeutic platform for the targeted drug delivery systems.