None.
Competing interests
P.M. and K.Z. received grants by B. Braun Melsungen, CSL Behring, Fresenius Kabi, and Vifor Pharma for the implementation of Frankfurt’s Patient Blood Management Program in four German university hospitals. P.M. received honoraria for scientific lectures from B.Braun Melsungen, Ferring, CSL Behring and from Pharmacosmos. K.Z. received grants from B.Braun Melsungen, CSL Behring, Fresenius Kabi, Vifor Pharma, and the European Union. A.K. have received funding and/or honoraria from Pharmacosmos and Vifor Pharma. M.M. has received honoraria for consultancy or lectures and/or travel support from Stryker Ibérica (Spain), Wellspect HealthCare (Sweden), Ferrer Pharma (Spain), Roche (Spain), Vifor Pharma (Spain and Switzerland), PharmaCosmos (Denmark), and Zambon (Spain) but not for this work. UCL and the research program lead by T.R. has received research funding from a variety of sources including government, charity, and industry sources for research into anemia, blood transfusion and iron therapy including NIHR HTA, NHMRC, Health Foundation, Gideon Richter, Vifor Pharma Ltd, and Pharmocosmos. T.R. has also been an invited speaker at conferences and provided consultancy to government and industry on anemia, blood transfusion and iron therapy in the last 5 years. This does not alter our adherence to the journal policies on sharing data and materials. A.S. received research grants from CSL Behring, Gauss Surgical, Masimo, and HbO2 Therapeutics; he has also received honoraria from CSL Behring, Masimo, and Merck and acted as a consultant for CSL Behring, Gauss Surgical, Masimo Corporation, and Vifor Pharma. D.S.’s academic department is receiving grant support from the Swiss National Science Foundation, Berne, Switzerland; the Ministry of Health (Gesundheitsdirektion) of the Canton of Zurich, Switzerland, for highly specialized medicine; the Swiss Society of Anesthesiology and Reanimation, Berne, Switzerland; the Swiss Foundation for Anesthesia Research, Zurich, Switzerland; Bundesprogramm Chancengleichheit, Berne, Switzerland; CSL Behring, Berne, Switzerland; and Vifor SA, Villars-sur-Glâne, Switzerland. D.S. was the chairman of the ABC Faculty and is the co-chairman of the ABC-Trauma Faculty, which both are managed by Physicians World Europe GmbH, Mannheim, Germany, and sponsored by unrestricted educational grants from Novo Nordisk Health Care AG, Zurich, Switzerland; CSL Behring GmbH, Marburg, Germany; and LFB Biomédicaments, Courtaboeuf Cedex, France. In the past 5 years, D.S. has received honoraria or travel support for consulting or lecturing from the following companies: Abbott AG, Baar, Switzerland; AMGEN GmbH, Munich, Germany; AstraZeneca AG, Zug, Switzerland; Baxter AG, Volketswil, Switzerland; Baxter S.p.A., Roma, Italy; Bayer (Schweiz) AG, Zürich, Switzerland; Bayer Pharma AG, Berlin, Germany; B. Braun Melsungen AG, Melsungen, Germany; Boehringer Ingelheim (Schweiz) GmbH, Basel, Switzerland; Bristol-Myers-Squibb, Rueil-Malmaison Cedex, France, and Baar, Switzerland; CSL Behring GmbH, Hattersheim am Main, Germany, and Berne, Switzerland; Curacyte AG, Munich, Germany; Daiichi Sankyo (Schweiz) AG, Thalwil, Switzerland; Ethicon Biosurgery, Sommerville, NJ, USA; Fresenius SE, Bad Homburg v.d.H., Germany; Galenica AG, Bern, Switzerland (including Vifor SA, Villars-sur-Glâne, Switzerland); GlaxoSmithKline GmbH & Co. KG, Hamburg, Germany; Janssen-Cilag AG, Baar, Switzerland; Janssen-Cilag EMEA, Beerse, Belgium; Merck Sharp & Dohme AG, Luzern, Switzerland; Novo Nordisk A/S, Bagsvärd, Denmark; Octapharma AG, Lachen, Switzerland; Organon AG, Pfäffikon/SZ, Switzerland; Oxygen Biotherapeutics, Costa Mesa, CA; PAION Deutschland GmbH, Aachen, Germany; Photonics Healthcare B.V., Utrecht, the Netherlands; ratiopharm Arzneimittel Vertriebs-GmbH, Vienna, Austria; Roche Diagnostics International Ltd, Reinach, Switzerland; Roche Pharma (Schweiz) AG, Reinach, Switzerland; Schering-Plough International, Inc., Kenilworth, NJ, USA; Tem International GmbH, Munich, Germany; Verum Diagnostica GmbH, Munich, Germany; Vifor Pharma Deutschland GmbH, Munich, Germany; Vifor Pharma Österreich GmbH, Vienna, Austria; and Vifor (International) AG, St. Gallen, Switzerland. The remaining authors declare that they have no competing interests.