The Department of Health and Human Services recently released its budget proposal for 2010. As it relates to the FDA, HHS is looking to build

on the  $1.1billion included in the recovery Act for comparative effectiveness research.  The funds requested will continue efforts to produce state-of-the-science information on what medical treatments work best for a given condition.

Not only will these  findings enhance medical decision-making by patients and their physicians,  they will likely  close the door a little bit more to the success of off-label marketing of pharmaceuticals for indications that have little to no science to back up the claims of efficacy. Physicians will hopefully have a readily available source from which to compare treatments and drugs.