Improving Oral Bioavailability of Sorafenib by Optimizing the "Spring" and "Parachute" Based on Molecular Interaction Mechanisms.

Sorafenib is a clinically important oral tyrosine kinase inhibitor for the treatment of various cancers. However, the oral bioavailability of sorafenib tablet (Nexavar) is merely 38–49% relative to the oral solution, due to the low aqueous solubility of sorafenib and its relatively high daily dose. It is desirable to improve the oral bioavailability of sorafenib to expand the therapeutic window, reduce the drug resistance, and enhance patient compliance. In this study, we observed that the solubility of sorafenib could be increased ∼50-fold in the coexistence of poly(vinylpyrrolidone-vinyl acetate) (PVP-VA) and sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), due to the formation of PVP-VA/SLS complexes at a lower critical aggregation concentration. The enhanced solubility provided a faster initial sorafenib dissolution rate, analogous to a forceful “spring” to release drug into solution, from tablets containing both PVP-VA and SLS. However, SLS appears to impair the ability of PVP-VA to act as an efficient “parachute” to ke...