About the Authors

Steve Elliott

selliott@amgen.com

Affiliation Amgen Inc, Thousand Oaks, California, United States of America

Susan Swift

Affiliation Amgen Inc, Thousand Oaks, California, United States of America

Leigh Busse

Affiliation Amgen Inc, Thousand Oaks, California, United States of America

Sheila Scully

Affiliation Amgen Inc, Thousand Oaks, California, United States of America

Gwyneth Van

Affiliation Amgen Inc, Thousand Oaks, California, United States of America

John Rossi

Affiliation Amgen Inc, Thousand Oaks, California, United States of America

Carol Johnson

Affiliation Amgen Inc, Thousand Oaks, California, United States of America

Competing Interests

All authors are stockholders and/or employees, or former employees of Amgen Inc, a biopharmaceutical company that manufactures and distributes erythropoiesis stimulating agents. Some of the authors are also holders of patents pertaining to ESAs, their manufacture or use. There are no further patents, products in development or marketed products to declare. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: SE S. Swift LB S. Scully GV JR CJ. Performed the experiments: S. Swift LB GV JR. Analyzed the data: SE S. Swift LB S. Scully GV JR CJ. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: S. Swift LB S. Scully GV JR CJ. Wrote the paper: SE S. Swift LB S. Scully GV JR CJ.