An increasing number of Benicar lawsuits are being filed in federal and state courts. Plaintiffs of these suits allege they suffered Benicar side effects, like chronic diarrhea and other gastrointestinal problems, after taking the Daiichi Sankyo and Forest Laboratories blood pressure medication. Many of these Benicar lawsuits have been consolidated into a multidistrict litigation; the status of these MDL cases was recently reviewed during a June 30 status conference.

Benicar MDL Status Update

The 70 Benicar lawsuits in this Benicar MDL have been centralized before U.S. District Judge Robert Kugler in New Jersey federal court. Centralization will allow for coordination of discovery, avoid conflicting pretrial rulings, and make the legal proceedings more convenient for the involved parties, witnesses, and courts.

The Benicar lawsuits included in the MDL similarly allege that Daiichi and Forest failed to fully warn the medical community and patients about their blood pressure drug’s side effects, including the sprue-like enteropathy complications.

Benicar sprue-like enteropathy usually presents in patients months or even years after they begin taking the blood pressure medication. A side effect of Benicar sprue-like enteropathy is severe diarrhea that may require some patients repeated hospitalization, and may even result in potentially permanent damage to their gastrointestinal systems.

The attorneys representing the plaintiffs of these Benicar MDL cases were scheduled to meet at the end of June with Judge Kugler, at which time the court reviewed the status of the blood pressure drug and the recently filed Master Complaint. This document laid out the format for an initial exchange of information between the various parties involved in the MDL, as well as the coordination of state and federal Benicar lawsuits.

At the time that this Benicar MDL was established, only 45 Benicar lawsuits had been filed in federal courts nationwide; however, the latest MDL status update states that there are at least 70 Benicar gastrointestinal side effect lawsuits pending trial before Judge Kugler.

Additionally, there are at least 59 Benicar lawsuits pending in the state court of New Jersey. Attorneys involved in these Benicar lawsuits consolidated in the MDL expect that hundreds if not thousands of more complaints will be filed by injured plaintiffs into this Benicar MDL.

What is Benicar?

Benicar is a hypertension medication made by Daiichi and Forest and is part of their blood pressure product line that includes Benicar HCT, Azor and Tribenzor. Benicar and these related Daiichi Sankyo drugs have been known to cause gastrointestinal issues, including sprue-like enteropathy, which has led to multiple Benicar lawsuit, which allege patients suffered severe injuries after using the prescription drug.

In July 2013, the FDA even published a warning label update, requiring Daiichi and Forest to include a sprue-like enteropathy side effects warning on their Benicar labels. This warning label would inform users that they may be at risk of experiencing Benicar side effects and complications months or even years after taking their first dose of Benicar.

The plaintiffs of current Benicar lawsuits allege Daiichi Sankyo and Forest Laboratories known or should have known about Benicar sprue-like enteropathy for years, but neglected to inform consumers or the medical community about Benicar gastrointestinal complications in favor of increased profits.