CSL to boost Hizentra capacity in bid for market share

As Bloomberg reports, the convenience factor is playing out in the market for immunoglobulins, drugs for people born without the ability to make enough antibodies.

Patient convenience is a key strategy for drugmakers looking to boost sales: Think Novartis' ($NVS) newly approved multiple sclerosis treatment Gilenya, for example; as a pill rather than an injected drug, analysts say, it stands to steal patients away from established, but less convenient drugs. Or think of the race to develop a diabetes drug that lasts a week or longer.

As Bloomberg reports, the convenience factor is playing out in the market for immunoglobulins, drugs for people born without the ability to make enough antibodies. Australia-based CSL is trying to woo patients away from doctor's-office infusions of drugs such as Baxter's ($BAX) Gammagard with its new Hizentra, which patients can inject themselves. And Hizentra has an advantage over potential home-infused competitors, because it's highly concentrated, so an infusion takes less time, analysts say.

Doctors and analysts are expecting a big shift of patients to Hizentra, Bloomberg says, which gives