library(bbmle) d <- data.frame(x=0:10, y=c(26, 17, 13, 12, 20, 5, 9, 8, 5, 4, 8)) maxit <- 1000 mle2(y~dpois(lambda=exp(lymax)/(1+x/exp(lhalf))), start=list(lymax=0,lhalf=0), data=d, control=list(maxit=maxit), parameters=list(lymax~1,lhalf~1))