US drug manufacturer Eli Lily & Co. has reached a deal with Imclone Systems Inc according to which it will buy the biotechnology company for more than $6 billion.

On Monday, Eli Lily announced that its offer of $70 a share in cash had been accepted by Imclone Systems which had earlier rejected two takeover bids from Bristol-Myers Squibb Co as too low. Lily’s offer was 7.7% higher than Friday’s closing price of Imclone and over 50% more than its July bid before Bristol-Myers made the first offer. With more than 87 million shares outstanding as of August 1, 2008, the acquisition price was likely to reach $6.1 billion even as Lily officials announced that the deal had been priced at $6.5 billion.

The acquisition of Imclone Systems is expected to extend Lily’s line of cancer treatment drugs by significant additions. Among those identified by Lily as particularly promising are three Imclone drug candidates, IMC-112B, IMC-A12 and IMC-11F8. Among the frontline cancer drugs from Lily are Erbitux which is used for the treatment of colorectal as well as neck and head cancers, Alimta which is used for mesothelioma treatment and lung cancers as well as the chemotherapy agent Gemzar.

Paying a premium on auto insurance can seem an unnecessary expense especially in these times of tightened household budgets. However there are a number of reasons why you must not avoid taking out an auto insurance policy.

The primary reason for buying insurance coverage for your vehicle is to be financially prepared in case of an accident. Almost every state requires a driver to carry a minimum amount of insurance. This is because if you are uninsured and have an accident where you are at fault, you will need to come up with all the damages, which in most cases can be quite high and leave you financially wrecked.

Auto insurance is a contract between you and an insurance company where you agree to pay a regular amount as premium and in return the insurance company agrees to pay for specified expenses in case of an accident. There are many different types of policies covered under auto insurance. A Personal Injury Policy, will cover your medical expenses, lost wages and associated costs in case you are injured in an accident. Other policies like Collision insurance and Comprehensive insurance will cover various degrees damage to your car in case of a collision or any other kind of accident.

The world’s largest online auction site, eBay Inc. has announced that it will cut its global workforce by almost 10% in a bid to streamline its business.

On Monday, eBay declared that it would be pruning its workforce by 10% which would affect around 1000 employees across the world. The job cuts would also lay off several hundred temporary workers and lead the company to incur pre-tax restructuring charges of $70 million to $80 million. The restructuring expenses were expected to show up in the results of fourth quarter of 2008, according to company representatives. eBay claimed that the restructuring step was being taken to improve the company’s operations as well as to strengthen its ability to invest in growth.

In a separate announcement, eBay declared that it was ready to acquire the online payment business Bill Me Later for around $820 million and $125 million in outstanding options. Other than this, eBay was also in talks of taking over the leading online classified site of Denmark, dba.dk, for around $390 million in cash.

Analysts have forecast third quarter revenue for eBay in the range of $2.1 billion to $2.15 billion while experts from Thomas Financial expect the company to earn 41 cents a share on sales of $2.16 billion.

The $700 billion finance rescue bill signed by President Bush will provide, for the first time, equal insurance coverage for mental as well as physical illnesses.

The provision is expected to benefit around 113 million Americans in the form of better insurance coverage for mental health treatments. It has taken twelve years of untiring efforts by support groups of people afflicted with mental illnesses and addiction disorders to get the provision approved. The new law not only appears to be a milestone in the search for civil rights but also promises to end insurance discrimination and stigma associated with mental illness.

Until now most employers and group health plans have provided reduced coverage for mental health care than for the treatment of physical illnesses like heart disease, cancer or broken bones. For years together health insurance companies too have set higher deductibles and co-payments as well as tighter limits for treatment of addictions and mental illnesses. However according to the new law, employers’ or group health plans will have to bring about parity in physical and mental health coverage by adjusting their benefits.

Medical experts estimate that by doing away with restrictions of mental health coverage, the new law will allow patients to have easier access to treatments for depression, autism, schizophrenia, eating disorders and substance abuse.

J.K.Rowling, creator of the hugely successful Harry Potter series of books has been named as the world’s highest-aid author with weekly earnings of three million sterling pounds.

Joanne Rowling, a 43-three year old mum of three earns more than nine of the best-selling authors put together. Most of that amount comes from the sale of Harry Potter books which have sold more than 375 million copies all over the world. Rowling’s first Harry Potter novel appeared in 1997 and since then she has gone on to pen another six in the series, with the last four books consecutively setting world records for the fastest selling book in history.

Besides Rowling’s earnings from her books, she also gets an undisclosed sum from the profits of made out of Harry Potter films which have gone on to be huge hits at the box office. Rowling further pockets an estimated 100 million pounds from toy merchandise based on the characters from Harry Potter series besides taking home the profits from the video games and the Potter images that appear on every surface from sticking plasters to sweets. According to an estimate the Harry Potter brand is currently worth 7 billion pounds or $15 billion USD.

What’s life without the fun and frolic? Great events from family events to corporate events to entertainment events make life beautiful and fill it up. Here is a company that helps do that. They say they love what they do. In other words they love adding color to our lives. They seem to be a great Holiday Party Planner company.

They undertake turnkey operation from catering to entertainment. What about credibility? Well a valid question. The answer is 20 long years they have been in business. Owned by a woman they take care of intricate details very well. They say they can take care of Christmas decorations to valet. Not just that they also have the best holiday event planner experience. They say they have absolutely great great holiday menus and they go on to say that they can produce events for any day in December. If that sounds unconvincing well listen to this they say “they can actually turn ice into snow for your event in California.” 

Now that surely sounds great so for if you are looking for a great Christmas Event Planner then you have it right here.

Our life demands are increasing and as pressures increase people are getting it hard in their brains. The weak ones sadly land up with the shrink or get onto abuse. Sadly few also get addicted to alcohol and drugs. I came across an absolutely great video of San Jose Drug Rehab here. It tells all is not lost and there is ample good available to get back to normal life.

What is said is that patients receive care and an personalized treatment which is effective and complete. Each patient is cared to very well and provided everything from that can help them overcome this condition. San Jose narconon is another great video which again tells the state of alcohol and drug rehab.

It is also said that Narconon vista bay is one of the premiere drug and alcohol treatment centers servicing an entire belt. The areas it services consist of fullerton, brea, la habra, costa mesa, la mirada, irvine, newport beach, huntington beach, laguna beach, Anaheim and tustin in Orange County California.

But that’s just 1 part San Jose drug abuse services also help fight drug abuse with affordable and reliable drug rehabilitation programs. In other words once an addict can be a normal person today or tomorrow.