A Minnesota man is suing the manufacturers of the popular blood pressure drug, Benicar (olmesartan), claiming the medication caused severe intestinal and colonic injuries.

In the Benicar lawsuit filed Feb. 18, 2015 in Minnesota federal court, plaintiff Roger D. is seeking damages from Benicar manufacturers Daiichi Sankyo and Forest Laboratories. According to the Benicar lawsuit, Roger was prescribed Benicar by his physician and while taking the recommended dose, he began to exhibit chronic diarrhea, weight loss, nausea, vomiting, malnutrition and dehydration. He was admitted to the emergency room on multiple occasions for diarrhea, profound dehydration, malnutrition, disease/disorders of the digestive system, acute renal insufficiency, and syncope (fainting).

During several hospital stays, doctors were unaware of the link between Benicar and Roger’s symptoms and as a result, Roger was treated for several different types of conditions for which the treatment included a gluten-free diet and high doses of steroids. Several other ailments have developed and/or worsened as a result of the chronic diarrhea (and associated symptoms) and/or doctors’ attempts to alleviate Roger’s symptoms.

He was subsequently diagnosed with a condition known as sprue-like enteropathy, symptoms of which include severe, chronic diarrhea with substantial weight loss. Symptoms of Benicar sprue-like enteropathy closely mirror Celiac disease, which is an intolerance to gluten. Common symptoms include severe and/or chronic diarrhea, substantial weight loss and an electrolyte imbalance.

He has also suffered “unavoidable, serious and life threatening physical injuries, severe emotional distress, and mental injuries in coping with his physical injuries, and has incurred and expended significant amounts for the medical care, hospitalizations, and medications, required to treat and care for his olmesartan-related disease, pain, and suffering and will continue to do so long into the future,” according to the Benicar lawsuit.

Studies have shown that Benicar side effects can begin months or even years after taking the medication. As a result, Roger requires monitoring, screening, testing, and treatment of his medical conditions by doctors and other health care providers and is at risk for a host of issues, including acute renal failure, the Benicar lawsuit alleges.

Benicar Sprue-Like Enteropathy

In 2012, the Mayo Clinic published the results of a study in which it concluded Benicar patients were at an increased risk of developing sprue-like enteropathy. Researchers from the American College of Gastroenterology have also reported scores of cases of olmesartan-related sprue-like enteropathy and a study published in the October 2014 Journal of Clinical Pathology found that up to 50 percent of Benicar patients suffered sprue-like enteropathy compared with about 20 percent of patients who used other blood-pressure lowering medications.

Doctors write more than 11 million prescriptions annually for Benicar, making it the most widely prescribed blood pressure medication in the country. It has been approved for commercial sale in the United States since April 2002. However, the FDA ordered Benicar maker Daiichi Sankyo to add a warning label about Benicar sprue-like enteropathy, which was characterized as “life-threatening” in a study that found more than half of the patients stricken with it required hospitalization for extreme weight loss caused by the side effects of Benicar.