A new Benicar lawsuit has joined the existing multidistrict litigation against the makers of Benicar, alleging that the drug causes celiac disease-like symptoms.

Plaintiff Odis A. of Tennessee claims he suffered from serious gastrointestinal problems after taking Benicar.  According to the Benicar lawsuit, Odis experienced villous atrophy, sprue-like enteropathy, colitis, kidney failure, malabsorption, malnutrition, dehydration, diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, and abdominal pain.

He is seeking financial compensation to help cover the medical expenses required to treat the Benicar side effects.

Plaintiff Odis has joined numerous other Benicar lawsuits that have been filed into a multidistrict litigation or MDL. In MDLs, the court system groups and coordinates similar cases together in order to avoid duplicating efforts.

Since Benicar lawsuits typically make similar allegations and hinge on similar evidence, they are ideal for inclusion in a single MDL.

Benicar Side Effects

Benicar is a drug designed to treat high blood pressure. However, in 2013, the FDA issued a Drug Safety Communication, warning that the drug could potentially cause a constellation of symptoms called “sprue-like enteropathy.”

This means that the drug could cause a variety of symptoms that closely resembled celiac disease or irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Alleged, patients taking Benicar may have suffered for months—or even longer—thinking they had celiac disease or IBS.

Celiac disease is an intestinal problem where certain foods, usually a protein found in wheat, trigger an allergic reaction in the villi of the small intestine, causing problems digesting food.

This causes painful diarrhea, stomach bloating, and other painful symptoms. Most people with celiac disease can control their symptoms with a strict exclusion diet, but a fair percentage suffers the same symptoms regardless of what they eat.

Because of this group of celiac suffers, many taking Benicar allegedly believed they simply had one of the more problematic cases of celiac disease. Allegedly, many suffered for months, even years before the FDA made its announcement that Benicar may caused celiac-disease like symptoms.

Some Benicar lawsuits have alleged that patients could not absorb adequate nutrition from food for months, leading to dehydration, dangerous weight loss, and even kidney problems.

Benicar Lawsuits

Benicar lawsuits allege that the makers of Benicar knew—or reasonably should have known—about the risk of sprue-like enteropathy associated with Benicar long before the FDA made its announcement.

Additionally, Benicar lawsuits claim that by not warning consumers, they caused patients to suffer from life-threatening celiac disease symptoms.

The Benicar Lawsuit is In Re: Beincar (Olmesartan) Products Liability Litigation, Case No. 1:15-cv-07270-RBK-JS and MDL No. 2606, filed in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, Camden Vicinage.