Another Benicar lawsuit was filed alleging that the blood pressure drug caused severe gastrointestinal side effects

Plaintiffs Shawn and Eric S.’s Benicar lawsuit claims that Shawn started taking Benicar around January 2009. While on Benicar, he claims he developed manifestations of colonic disease.

According to the Benicar lawsuit, Shawn suffered “chronic diarrhea, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, weight loss, etc.” Shawn had to seek hospitalization, treatment and monitoring to address these symptoms.

Shawn and Eric are now suing Daiichi Sankyo Inc., Forest Laboratories LLC, and their related companies, all of whom are involved in the manufacture and distribution of Benicar. Eric’s claim is for loss of consortium, a type of claim that a close relative can bring based on harm done to that relative’s relationship with the victim.

The Benicar MDL

Shawn and Eric’s Benicar lawsuit is now part of the multidistrict litigation currently being conducted in federal court in New Jersey. A multidistrict litigation, or MDL, is a consolidation of several separate individual claims from around the country. In cases like pharmaceutical products liability, where several different claims share common issues of fact or law, the federal court system sometimes consolidates those claims into an MDL to deal with pretrial matters consistently and efficiently.

According to the Benicar MDL, plaintiffs generally claim they suffered unacceptably severe side effects after taking either Benicar, Benicar HCT, Azor or Tribenzor, all of which contain the active ingredient olmesartan.

They attribute those side effects to the defendants’ alleged over-promotion of Benicar as being safe and effective, and to their failure to warn patients and physicians about the risk of Benicar side effects.

Benicar is an angiotentin II receptor used to treat hypertension. The same active ingredient, olmesartan, is available in combinations with other cardiovascular medications that are sold as Benicar HCT, Azor, and Tribenzor. Plaintiffs say that Daiichi holds the patents for all these drugs, which together Daiichi refers to as the “Benicar Family.”

Benicar has been linked to reported cases of serious gastrointestinal symptoms frequently referred to as sprue-like enteropathy. Plaintiffs allege that taking Benicar caused symptoms, including: “villous atrophy/blunting/damage, inflammation, nausea, vomiting, chronic diarrhea, malnutrition, dehydration, atrophy, kidney failure, weight loss, abdominal and gastrointestinal pain, colitis, gastritis, and including permanent injuries resulting therefrom, and death.”

The plaintiffs allege the label and marketing materials for Benicar and its related drugs fail to properly warn about the danger of these gastrointestinal symptoms.

Many plaintiffs in these Benicar lawsuit point to the FDA’s July 2013 Drug Safety Communication warning, which states Benicar and other olmesartan-based drugs are capable of causing sprue-like enteropathy. The FDA notes that this condition can develop even months or years after first taking olmesartan. The agency said it based this warning on reports submitted directly to the FDA and on studies and research published within the last few years.

The Benicar Lawsuit is Case No. 1:15-CV-06447 and is part of the Benicar MDL is MDL No. 2606, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.