In two different scenarios this morning, renegade doctors concerned about the safety of different classes of prescription drugs are said to be threatening billions of dollars in sales of popular medications. Another story examines the "growing evidence" that prescription painkillers are not only "causing an epidemic of abuse" but are also "ineffective in treating long-term pain and are harming patients." All three stories raise serious questions about the efficacy of the Food and Drug Administration's oversight of Big Pharma in the process.

It may not be the solution to its low ranking among Hispanic consumers but Wendy's is poised for the national rollout of a Pretzel Bacon Cheeseburger that has reportedly tested extremely well in markets such as Miami and Northeast Ohio and led Janney Capital Markets analyst Mark Kalinowski to predict that same-store sales will increase 3% to 5% after its launch "at some point during 2013."

Nike is terminating its nine-year merchandising partnership with Livestrong Foundation, the nonprofit organization for people affected by cancer that disgraced bicyclist Lance Armstrong founded in 1997 but is no longer affiliated with, after having earned more than $100 million for the charitable brand and redefined the way corporate sports partnerships operate.

Club Mediterranee -- you know it as Club Med -- has its eyes on the Chinese market and a Chinese investment group has its eyes on the storied resort operation, which has rebranded itself several times since its founding in 1950 and currently targets an upscale consumer who has apparently been struggling along with everybody else.

An old new sheriff is back in town at Procter & Gamble. Former CEO A.G. Lafley replaced his handpicked successor, Robert McDonald, late yesterday and further changes are in the air.

If the secret sauce in Snapple's decades-long overnight success story was "quirky marketing and bold flavors," as the Wall Street Journal's Stephen Miller puts it, its saucier was Leonard Marsh, who died Tuesday at 80. Marsh teamed with Hyman Golden, his brother-in-law and partner in an office-cleaning business, and with a childhood friend, Arnold Greenberg, who operated a health food store in the Manhattan's East Village, to form what became Snapple in 1972.

Surely you've heard the adage that "80% of success is showing up." Apple CEO Tim Cook seemingly proved that point yesterday by testifying before a Senate panel prepared to excoriate Apple for taking advantage of the existing tax code to the hilt.

Take one from Column A (Seamless) and one from Column B - (GrubHub) and you got a heaping plateful of restaurant home-and- office delivery options once a merger announced yesterday clears regulatory approval and takes effect.

With Yahoo's $1.1 billion acquisition of Tumblr -- the formal announcement is widely reported to be the item on the agenda of a "mystery product event" in New York at 5 p.m. today -- Yahoo is attempting to solve one problem by taking on another one that is ever so nettlesome.

David Oreck has one of those avuncular, made-in-the-USA infomercial voices that exude homespun quality so convincingly it was something of a shock to read a few weeks ago that the company that makes his vacuum cleaners was filing for bankruptcy protection. What's this country coming to, one wondered, if it can't support the likes of Twinkies, Levitz Furniture and a nine-pound vacuum cleaner powerful enough to suck up bowling balls and withstand the force of a 7,000-pound truck rolling over it.