COMPANY NEWS; SMITHKLINE TO BUY BLOCK DRUG FOR $1.2 BILLION

SmithKline Beecham P.L.C., which plans to merge with another drug maker, Glaxo Wellcome P.L.C., said it would buy the Block Drug Company for $1.2 billion in cash to gain the company's Polident denture cleaner and Sensodyne toothpaste. SmithKline, which reaps a third of its sales from consumer products like Aquafresh toothpaste, will pay $53 a share, said a spokeswoman, Lynne Smith. That is about 5 percent more than Block's closing price Friday of $50.63. The purchase shows SmithKline's commitment to the consumer business at a time when other companies, like Bristol-Myers Squibb, are selling theirs to focus on drugs. SmithKline aims to keep profiting from pharmaceuticals that have lost patent protection by converting them to nonprescription products.