Our effectiveness outcomes are also consistent with those of the hemodialysis patients in two international prospective observational studies of anemia-treatment patterns and outcomes with reference epoetin-α: the 5 Western European countries initially involved in the Dialysis Outcomes and Practice Patterns Study (EuroDOPPS), with 4,591 hemodialysis patients from 101 dialysis centers in 5 countries [15], and the European Survey on Anaemia Management (ESAM) with initially 13,121 hemodialysis patients from 792 centers in 14 Western European countries [16, 17, 18]. The gene discussed is EPO; the disease is anemia (phenotype).