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Bowing to government antitrust objections, Rhone-Poulenc Rorer Inc., of Fort Washington, and Procter & Gamble Co. yesterday canceled an agreement that would have given P&G exclusive marketing rights to Maalox, Rorer's popular antacid. The cancellation follows the Justice Department's filing of a suit Aug. 7 opposing the agreement. The suit in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia charged that the agreement would reduce competition and raise prices in the U.S. market for over-the-counter stomach medicines.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., which is headquartered in Israel but has operations in North Wales, said it has joined consumer products giant Proctor & Gamble in a joint venture called PGT Healthcare. Based in Geneva, the new firm will operate in "essentially all markets outside of North America," and develop new over-the-counter brands for North America. Meanwhile, Teva said Wednesday that it might introduce an unnamed "important undisclosed generic product," later this year.

Two of the nation's most visible companies announced major layoffs yesterday as they attempted to deal with the effects of a slowing economy. The staff reductions are in two widely different industries - household products and financial services - a reflection of the breadth of the slowdown. Procter & Gamble Co. said it would cut 9,600 more jobs worldwide, or about 9 percent of its workforce, as part of its effort to cut costs and meet competitors' prices. In the other announcement, Charles Schwab Corp.

Angered by what it perceives as discrimination in advertising spending by Procter & Gamble, a group of black newspaper publishers has raised the specter of a campaign that would urge their readers to boycott the Cincinnati company's array of consumer products. "We have been denied the opportunity for equal access," Robert W. Bogle, publisher of the Philadelphia Tribune and head of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, said yesterday. "P&G wants to treat us differently.

Nine companies lost $520.9 million because of fraudulent dealings in risky securities sold by Bankers Trust Co., the Procter & Gamble Co. alleged in newly unsealed court documents. Heading the list, P&G contends it lost $195.5 million in 1994 because it was duped by Bankers Trust, which denies the allegations. One of the nine alleged victims named by Proctor & Gamble was Air Products & Chemicals of Allentown. Last year, Air Products reported a pretax loss of $107 million - $75 million after taxes - on derivatives transactions handled by Bankers Trust.

John G. Smale, 84, the former Procter & Gamble Co. chief executive and chairman who expanded the consumer products maker with a major acquisition and a push into China and other emerging markets overseas, died Saturday in Cincinnati. Mr. Smale led P&G from 1981 to 1990 and was the seventh chief executive of the 174-year-old company. He also was chairman of General Motors Co. from 1992 to 1995 and was a board member of the automaker for more than two decades, beginning in 1982.

CINCINNATI - Procter & Gamble Co.'s net income fell 2 percent in the fiscal first quarter as revenue growth was offset by the consumer goods giant's higher costs. P&G, maker of Tide detergent and Pampers diapers, said net income fell to $3.02 billion from $3.08 billion. Per-share earnings were $1.03 per share, in line with analysts' estimates, and up from $1.02 per share in the same period a year ago. The decline came despite a revenue increase of 9 percent to $21.9 billion from $20.12 billion.

Procter & Gamble Co., seeking to streamline its operations and preserve its healthy balance sheet, said yesterday it would eliminate 13,000 jobs and close about 30 plants throughout the world. Edwin Artzt, chairman of the consumer-products company, said the restructuring should not be considered a sign that P&G was in trouble. "This is definitely not our situation. We have a healthy, growing business, a strong balance sheet, a very positive cash flow, terrific state- of-the-art products and a well-stocked technology pipeline with plenty of opportunities for growth," he told industry analysts.

Federal health advisers yesterday said Procter & Gamble's experimental testosterone patch for menopausal women with low libidos needed much more study before hitting the nation's bedrooms. The panel's unanimous vote was like a cold shower for P&G, not to mention the dozen other drug companies lusting to tap the estimated $1 billion market for a female counterpart to Viagra. The Food and Drug Administration usually follows its advisers' recommendations but does not have to. The agency has come under fire in recent months for failing to monitor the safety of drugs, such as the blockbuster arthritis drug Vioxx, pulled from the market in September.

Would you buy panty liners that can predict menstruation - or double as a home pregnancy test? How about interactive diapers that turn potty training into child's play, and warn when a rash or infection is developing? Such what-will-they-think-of-next products already are on the drawing boards of international companies and independent inventors, judging from patents filed in recent years with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. But Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble - maker of Always sanitary pads, Tampax tampons and Pampers diapers - may be taking the lead in the race to develop absorbent throwaways that have sensors and indicators, if not bells and whistles.

We all do it: We don't sell a stock when we should, even after the share price has hit our hoped-for target, or it has lost value and stayed low. We fall in love with our portfolio holdings. Professionals offer tips on how to sell as a discipline. We checked in with the folks running Logan Capital Management's Concentrated Value portfolio day to day. Marvin Kline and Rich Buchwald, managing directors at the $2 billion Ardmore money-management firm, are Penn alums (one undergrad, one grad school)

John G. Smale, 84, the former Procter & Gamble Co. chief executive and chairman who expanded the consumer products maker with a major acquisition and a push into China and other emerging markets overseas, died Saturday in Cincinnati. Mr. Smale led P&G from 1981 to 1990 and was the seventh chief executive of the 174-year-old company. He also was chairman of General Motors Co. from 1992 to 1995 and was a board member of the automaker for more than two decades, beginning in 1982.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., which is headquartered in Israel but has operations in North Wales, said it has joined consumer products giant Proctor & Gamble in a joint venture called PGT Healthcare. Based in Geneva, the new firm will operate in "essentially all markets outside of North America," and develop new over-the-counter brands for North America. Meanwhile, Teva said Wednesday that it might introduce an unnamed "important undisclosed generic product," later this year.

CINCINNATI - Procter & Gamble Co.'s net income fell 2 percent in the fiscal first quarter as revenue growth was offset by the consumer goods giant's higher costs. P&G, maker of Tide detergent and Pampers diapers, said net income fell to $3.02 billion from $3.08 billion. Per-share earnings were $1.03 per share, in line with analysts' estimates, and up from $1.02 per share in the same period a year ago. The decline came despite a revenue increase of 9 percent to $21.9 billion from $20.12 billion.

CINCINNATI - The world's largest consumer products maker is teaming up with the world's largest generic drug maker. Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble Co. and Jerusalem-based Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. say they will combine their over-the-counter drug businesses in markets outside of North America. P&G's products include Vicks cold medicines, Pepto-Bismol stomach relief and Prilosec OTC heartburn medicine. Teva, whose U.S. headquarters are in Horsham, Montgomery County, will provide global manufacturing and infrastructure to supply the markets and P&G's North American business.

Simon Hauger has an engineering degree from Drexel University and 12 years of experience building cars, yet he was having trouble making a special box to hold the battery for a new hybrid vehicle. Luckily, Daniel Moore was there to lend a hand. Just 17, Moore figured out how to make the box with a machine that bends metal. "He just saw it differently than I did," Hauger recalled. This was hands-on education, West Philadelphia High School style. Moore is one of two dozen students on the West Philly Hybrid X Team, an after-school program with bold dreams.

Area gas prices reached record highs again yesterday, and crude oil neared $120 a barrel. So, how would you like to improve your fuel economy by 30 percent or more without buying a new car? Try hypermiling. Or ecodriving. They both involve a radical approach to driving in a society that seems to view speed limits as minimums. The approach involves slowing down, though some extreme hypermilers use techniques that are fast and risky. Take your foot off the gas and coast to that red light.

Patricia Gregory Brophy, 55, of Aston, a nurse-practitioner who cared for critically ill children, died Feb. 12 of colon cancer at her home. Mrs. Brophy earned a bachelor's degree in nursing from Thomas Jefferson University after her two children were in school. She decided to become an oncology nurse when one of her daughter's classmates died of cancer, her husband, Robert, said. She joined the staff of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia when she graduated in 1985. After earning a master's degree in nursing at Widener University, Mrs. Brophy was a clinical nurse specialist and then an oncology nurse-practitioner at Children's Hospital.

Federal health advisers yesterday said Procter & Gamble's experimental testosterone patch for menopausal women with low libidos needed much more study before hitting the nation's bedrooms. The panel's unanimous vote was like a cold shower for P&G, not to mention the dozen other drug companies lusting to tap the estimated $1 billion market for a female counterpart to Viagra. The Food and Drug Administration usually follows its advisers' recommendations but does not have to. The agency has come under fire in recent months for failing to monitor the safety of drugs, such as the blockbuster arthritis drug Vioxx, pulled from the market in September.

Deodorant, body wash, shampoo and hair gel, made especially for tween and teen boys, ages 9 to 16. Gimmick merchandising or societal need? A good question, depending on which side of the boys' grooming issue you stand. (Or, on how far from the boys you are standing.) "It would be a definite for them," Carrie Ford of Frankford said of her three boys, ages 8, 9 and 15. "They wouldn't have to tell their friends they put on baby powder. They don't like saying Suave. " Which may be auspicious news for Procter & Gamble, which has just launched OT, a line of grooming products for young men. Very young men. In the world of beauty, men's products barely register - $60 million out of $2 billion in high-end skin-care sales in department stores last year, according to New York-based NPD Market Research.