Japanese drug maker Daiichi Sankyo has been hit with another Benicar lawsuit claiming the blood pressure medication caused sprue-like enteropathy, a gastrointestinal problem that mimics the symptoms of celiac disease and causes chronic diarrhea and substantial weight loss.

Illinois plaintiff Deborah Dirksen alleges in the Benicar lawsuit that she was prescribed the medication in January 2009 to treat high blood pressure. Dirksen claims that she followed the prescribing information of her doctor and Benicar’s dosage instructions. But despite her diligence she began developing severe and chronic diarrhea, weight loss, dehydration, and other similar injuries.

After reporting these symptoms to her physician, the plaintiff was admitted to the hospital for nine days, in which she underwent numerous diagnostic tests, had to take several medications, and received IV fluids. However, she had been properly diagnosed and resumed taking Benicar after she left the hospital, the Benicar lawsuit says.

The plaintiff says she continued to take Benicar because she had been told that her condition was acute renal failure and that she had been suffering the effects of dehydration. When her symptoms returned she was taken back to the hospital in an ambulance.Over the next several months she suffered from severe diarrhea while requiring numerous doctor visits, the Benicar lawsuit says.

The plaintiff says that after learning of Benicar’s association with sprue-like enteropathy, her physician had her cease taking the blood pressure medication. Soon after stopping Benicar, Dirksen’s symptoms resolved themselves, and she eventually recovered from any lingering conditions.

Dirksen is filing a Benicar lawsuit against Daiichi Sankyo for the injuries she allegedly suffered from Benicar, stating that the company failed in its duty to warn her and other patients of Benicar’s side effects. She insists that she never would have taken Benicar if she had known about these potential side effects, and that her injuries could have been avoided.

The Benicar lawsuit is Dirksen v. Daiichi Sankyo, Case No. 3:14-cv-CSB-DGB, in the U.S. District Court of Central Illinois, Springfield Division.

Overview of Benicar Complications

Benicar (Olmesartan) is one of the most popular hypertension treatment options in the United States, with over 11 million Benicar prescription written a year. Benicar was approved by the FDA to treat high blood pressure in at-risk patients. Not long after patients began reporting to the agency severe adverse event reports that included symptoms related to chronic diarrhea.

The injury reports became so numerous that in July 2013, the FDA announced a drug safety warning that Benicar and other olmesartan-based drugs could potential cause severe intestinal damage. While severe diarrhea is considered embarrassing by most, the FDA warns that this side effect could be potentially life-threatening because it can cause severe dehydration and weight loss.

These Benicar side effects could take as little as four months to as long as several years to develop, leaving many patients unaware that they are unintentionally causing themselves potential gastrointestinal damage. While many patients report that the symptoms stopped after ceasing the medication, they were left with permanent intestinal damage, like villous atrophy.