---
title: Fusion designs and estimators for treatment effects.
description: >-
  Explore this publication on real-world evidence: Fusion designs and estimators
  for treatment effects..
date: '2021-01-01'
category: Publications
tags:
  - University of California Los Angeles
  - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  - Alexander Breskin
  - Approval & Commercialization
  - 'Yes'
  - Oral Presentation
  - R&D
canonical_url: >-
  https://www.headwaterscience.com/resources/publications/acad-university-of-california-los-angeles/fusion-designs-and-estimators-for-treatment-effects/
source: Headwater
license: © 2026 Headwater. All rights reserved.
slug: fusion-designs-and-estimators-for-treatment-effects
id: 7FIl4HYmFNcPUAsCcKeyUR
contentType: article
---

## Challenge

When trials compare new treatments to standards of care rather than to placebo, direct randomized comparisons are often unavailable. No formal data fusion estimator had been developed for this bridged treatment comparison problem.

## Solution

Target RWE researchers and UNC collaborators developed and published a formal data fusion estimator for bridged treatment effects in Statistics in Medicine, combining data from two studies with shared arms using inverse probability weighting.

## Use Cases/Links

[Read the publication](https://doi.org/10.1002/sim.8963)