A Benicar HCT lawsuit alleges the makers of the anti-hypertensive drug neglected to warn patients about the risk of gastrointestinal side effects.

In this Benicar HCT lawsuit, plaintiff Leanor J. of Florida says she started taking Benicar HCT sometime in November 2008.

She says the drug caused her to suffer a slew of gastrointestinal side effects resembling symptoms of olmesartan-associated enteropathy or several types of colitis.

Leanor reports suffering from “diarrhea, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, excess gas and bloating, heartburn and indigestion, diminished appetite, weight loss, and other injuries,” not to mention “pain and suffering, emotional distress and mental distress.”

Benicar, or olmesartan, is a drug used to reduce high blood pressure. It was originally approved by the FDA in April 2002.

Olmesartan is also combined with other anti-hypertensives and sold under other brand names. Benicar HCT, the drug Leanor took, combines olmesartan with hydrochlorothiazide, another kind of cardiovascular medication.

Another drug named Azor combines olmesartan with amlodipine, and Tribenzor combines all three ingredients into a single medication.

Benicar HCT Lawsuit Joins Others in MDL

Leanor’s Benicar HCT lawsuit is among many others like it that have been combined into a single multidistrict litigation, or MDL, in a New Jersey federal court.

The federal court system sometimes establishes an MDL when many similar lawsuits are filed over more or less the same issue at roughly the same time – as is often the case with pharmaceutical products liability claims like those being made about Benicar.

Combining these claims into a single action allows one judge to coordinate pretrial procedures like motion practice and exchange of evidence among the parties. It gets cases processed more efficiently and helps avoid inconsistent pretrial decisions by different judges.

In the Benicar MDL, plaintiffs generally allege that the manufacturers of Benicar – Daiichi Sankyo, Forest Laboratories and their associated business units, all of whom are named defendants – failed to properly warn patients about the severe gastrointestinal side effects that can happen during treatment with Benicar.

These symptoms are frequently identified as a condition known as sprue-like enteropathy. According to the FDA, the characteristic symptoms of sprue-like enteropathy are severe and chronic diarrhea with excessive weight loss.

These symptoms may not appear until months or even years after starting Benicar. They can be severe enough to require hospitalization.

The FDA warned the public and the medical community about the Benicar risk of sprue-like enteropathy in a drug safety communication issued in July 2013. The agency reported it had found 23 reports of serious cases of this condition in its adverse event report database.

In each of these cases, the agency said, the patients started to get better after their olmesartan drug was discontinued. Ten patients who later resumed taking olmesartan had their gastrointestinal symptoms come back.

Leanor’s Benicar HCT Lawsuit is Case No. 1:16-cv-08195 in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. The Benicar MDL is In re: Benicar (Olmesartan) Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2606, also in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.