of $772 million, compared to $1.1 billion in 2007, due primarily to lower average net financial assets, reflecting proceeds of $16.6 billion from the sale of our Consumer Healthcare business in late December 2006, and lower interest rates, which were partially offset by the receipt of a one-time cash payment of $425 million, pre-tax, in exchange for the termination of a license agreement, including the right to receive future royalties.

In 2007, we recorded higher net interest income of $1.1 billion compared to $437 million in 2006, due primarily to higher average net financial assets during 2007, reflecting proceeds of $16.6 billion from the sale of our Consumer Healthcare business, and higher interest rates. Also in 2007, we recorded a gain of $211 million related to the sale of a building in Korea. In 2006, we recorded a charge of $320 million related to the impairment of our Depo-Provera intangible asset. See also Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements—Note 6. Other (Income)/Deductions—Net.

Provision for Taxes on Income

Our overall effective tax rate for continuing operations was 17.0% in 2008, 11.0% in 2007 and 15.3% in 2006. The tax rate in 2008 reflects the impact of the agreements and the agreements in principle to resolve certain legal matters in 2008, which are either not deductible or deductible at lower tax rates, higher acquired IPR&D expenses in 2008, which are primarily not deductible for tax purposes, and the change in the jurisdictional mix of income, partially offset by the tax benefits discussed below.

In the second quarter of 2008, we effectively settled certain issues common among multinational corporations with various foreign tax authorities primarily relating to years 2000 through 2005. As a result, we recognized $305 million in tax benefits. Also, in the second quarter of 2008, we sold one of our biopharmaceutical companies, Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. (Esperion), to a newly formed company that is majority-owned by a group of venture capital firms. The sale, for nominal consideration, resulted in a loss for tax purposes that reduced our tax expense by $426 million. This tax benefit is a result of the significant initial investment in Esperion in 2004, primarily reported on the consolidated statement of income as Acquisition-related in-process research and development charges at acquisition date.

On October 3, 2008, the Tax Extenders and Alternative Minimum Tax Relief Act (the Extenders Act) extended the research and development tax credit from January 1, 2008, through December 31, 2009. The research and development credit reduced income tax expense in 2008 by approximately $110 million.

The lower tax rate in 2007 compared to 2006 is primarily due to the impact of charges associated with our decision to exit Exubera (see the “Our 2008 Performance: Certain Charges—Exubera” section of this Financial Review), higher charges related to our cost- reduction initiatives in 2007, lower non-deductible charges for acquisition-related IPR&D, and the volume and geographic mix of product sales and restructuring charges in 2007 compared to 2006, partially offset by certain one-time tax benefits in 2006, all discussed