Benicar (olmesartan medoxomil) is a popular blood pressure medicine that is used to lower the risk of stroke and heart attack in individuals who suffer from hypertension.

The blood pressure medicine was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2002, and today more than 10 million patients take Benicar every year.

More About Benicar

Benicar is the product of Daiichi Sankyo Company, a pharmaceutical company from Japan. Benicar is an Angiotensin II receptor blocker or ARB class of pharmaceutical. As such, the blood pressure medicine works by blocking a substance in the body that causes the blood vessels to tighten, increasing blood pressure.

Benicar makes the blood vessels relax, reducing blood pressure and easing the workload of the heart and arteries, thus reducing the risk of heart attack and stroke.

Unfortunately, Benicar has made headlines lately for severe complications that have been linked to the blood pressure medicine.

Side Effects of Benicar

Benicar has been found to cause severe GI problems in some patients. Specifically, persons taking the blood pressure medicine have been found to suffer from chronic and severe diarrhea, vomiting, and nausea.

In the worst cases, patients have experienced precipitous and significant weight loss, have required hospitalization, and have been left with permanent intestinal damage.

Side effects of Benicar present much like Celiac disease, the affliction caused by intolerance to gluten. The similar presentation has resulted in misdiagnosis and made the discovery of Benicar side effects more difficult.

While the drug was approved for use in patients with hypertension in 2002, it was not until 2012 that the public became aware of the risks of taking Benicar.

Described as “sprue-like enteropathy” or colitis, Benicar GI problems include severe diarrhea, severe weight loss, intestinal damage, and malnourishment. These blood pressure medicine side effects in rare cases may have a sudden onset; more often, side effects of Benicar surface over the course of months or years.

In the most severe cases, patients require hospitalization and emergency medical care.

In 2014, the FDA made it mandatory that Benicar be packaged with a warning on its label stating the drug is associated with significant GI problems.

Benicar Blood Pressure Medicine Research

Research indicating a link between severe intestinal damage and Benicar use surfaced in 2012 from the Mayo Clinic. In June 2012, the Mayo Clinic published a series of case studies focusing on 22 patients who experienced serious blood pressure medication side effects while taking Benicar.

In each of these cases the presenting symptoms did not respond to any other treatments, such as the treatment for Celiac disease.

The study concluded that GI problems only subsided when patients ceased taking Benicar for hypertension. Thus, researchers concluded Benicar was to blame for their severe diarrhea, abdominal pain, vomiting, and the resulting weight loss and intestinal damage.

Now, the Mayo Clinic warns patients currently taking Benicar that GI problems such as “severe, chronic diarrhea with weight loss may develop months to years after taking this medicine,” urging patients to seek medical treatment if they begin to experience these symptoms while taking the blood pressure medicine.

FDA Benicar Findings

The FDA discovered a post market pattern of adverse event reports in patients taking Benicar. These reports showed that severe intestinal problems, mainly persistent and severe diarrhea, but also vomiting and nausea, can result from taking Benicar.

Precipitous weight loss and permanent intestinal damage have also been reported in FDA post market adverse event reports, cataloged in the federal program known as FAERS.

Federal regulators required Daiichi Sankyo to add a severe diarrhea warning to the Benicar label in 2013. The label was required to include information about the potential for severe and damaging GI problems resulting from Benicar.

Were You Harmed By Benicar?

A dangerous drug attorney can help if you or someone you care about was harmed as a result of taking the blood pressure medicine Benicar.

Lawsuits have been filed against Daiichi Sankyo by both patients and their families seeking compensation for injuries. You may be entitled to compensation if you were harmed by the side effects of Benicar.