A recombinant therapeutic agent which is chemically identical to or similar to the endogenous cytokine human erythropoietin (EPO). Produced primarily by cells of the peritubular capillary endothelium of the kidney in response to hypoxia, circulating EPO binds to EPO receptors on the surface of committed erythroid progenitors in the bone marrow resulting in their replication and maturation into functional erythrocytes. Check foractive clinical trials using this agent. OR A substance that is made in the laboratory and stimulates the bone marrow to make red blood cells. It is a type of antianemic and a type of recombinant human erythropoietin.