Now have full text of  Probing the stability of nonglycosylated wild-type erythropoietin protein via reiterative alanine ligations  here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3358843/

And here is a patent, held by SK on this method - Dr Samuel Danishefsky is one of the 11 names on the patent.
Homogeneous erythropoietin and other peptides and proteins, methods and intermediates for their preparation
EP 2010556 A2 (text from WO2007120614A2)

http://www.google.com/patents/EP2010556A2?cl=...CDIQ6AEwAA