library(bbmle) set.seed(1002) lymax <- c(0,2) lhalf <- 0 x <- runif(200) g <- factor(rep(c("a","b"),each=100)) y <- rnbinom(200,mu=exp(lymax[g])/(1+x/exp(lhalf)),size=2) d <- data.frame(x,g,y) fit3 <- mle2(y~dnbinom(mu=exp(lymax)/(1+x/exp(lhalf)),size=exp(logk)), parameters=list(lymax~g), start=list(lymax=0,lhalf=0,logk=0),data=d) plot(y~x,col=g) ## true curves curve(exp(0)/(1+x/exp(0)),add=TRUE) curve(exp(2)/(1+x/exp(0)),col=2,add=TRUE) xvec = seq(0,1,length=100) lines(xvec,predict(fit3,newdata=list(g=factor(rep("a",100),levels=c("a","b")), x = xvec)),col=1,lty=2) lines(xvec,predict(fit3,newdata=list(g=factor(rep("b",100),levels=c("a","b")), x = xvec)),col=2,lty=2) p1 = predict(fit3) ## manual prediction p2A = with(as.list(coef(fit3)),exp(`lymax.(Intercept)`)/(1+x[1:100]/exp(lhalf))) p2B = with(as.list(coef(fit3)),exp(`lymax.(Intercept)`+lymax.gb)/(1+x[101:200]/exp(lhalf))) p2 = c(p2A,p2B) all(p1==p2)