---
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'
author: Alexander Breskin
category: Publications
tags:
  - University of California Los Angeles
  - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  - Statistics in Medicine
  - Approval & Commercialization
  - 'Yes'
  - Health System Partner
  - Oral Presentation
  - Methods/Pharmacoepi
  - 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 Science
license: © 2026 Headwater Science. 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.

## Impact

The fusion estimator provides pharma partners and regulators with a rigorous method for generating comparative evidence when head-to-head trials are unavailable, addressing a common evidence gap in drug development.

## Use Cases / Links

Fusion estimator development for bridged treatment comparison when head-to-head trial data is unavailable, Formal causal data fusion framework for evidence synthesis in drug development programs