Suda Pharmaceuticals has started to make good on a promise that it would do deals in the United States, with news this morning it’s struck a deal with an Indian company to develop its migraine drug in the US.

Suda (ASX:SUD) specialises in turning drugs into mouth sprays, so they are absorbed into the bloodstream via the soft, mucus-covered tissues in the mouth.

The company told investors this morning that it had signed an exclusive development, licence and supply agreement with Strides Pharma to develop and commercialise Suda’s SUD-001H, which is an oral spray of sumatriptan to treat migraine headaches for the US market.

Sumatriptan has been approved and available for nearly 30 years, but requires a prescription for purchase in most jurisdictions.

The company’s shares shot up 80 per cent to 0.9c on the news — but that’s still down from a 1.9c high earlier this year.

Suda shares (ASX:SUD) over the past year.

Back in July, Suda told the market it was focusing on the US, trumpeting 12 potential deals on the table.

“In addition to this, Suda has in excess of 30 active leads and discussions at the technical level, all of which are subject to non-disclosure agreements,” it said at the time.

The final line in today’s announcement said “the company remains on track to achieve further deals as previously described”.

Suda will receive about $560k upfront as part of the deal, with up to $830k to come later if milestones such as in-human clinical trials, FDA submission and approval occur.

Suda sprays now on the market or in approval processes include treatments for malaria and epilepsy.

It has also worked out how to get sildenafil, better known as Viagra, and insomnia pill zolpidem, better know as Ambien, into mouth sprays.

Its shares jumped 60pc a couple of weeks ago and the company said biotech dazzler Biotron was responsible.

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