A Florida man has filed a Benicar side effects lawsuit against Daiichi claiming his use of Benicar led to severe personal injuries for him.

Plaintiff Leo L, a resident of Florida, is claiming that his use of hypertension drug, Benicar, caused him severe personal injuries including gastrointestinal problems.

These gastrointestinal Benicar side effects, he claims, were chronic and severe and required medical treatment.

Leo alleges that because of Benicar side effects, he was unable to work, leave the house and care for himself. This led to him experiencing severe stress as well as economic damages.

Benicar Side Effects

Benicar is a popular hypertension drug that was developed by Daiichi Sankyo and was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2002.

Today, doctors write more than 11 million prescriptions a year for this drug.

The active ingredient in Benicar, olmesartan, lowers blood pressure in a patient by dilating blood vessels. Benicar can be taken by itself or with other drugs to help in lowering blood pressure.

However, Daiichi’s popular drug comes with potential serious side effects. Benicar side effects can mimic Celiac disease, but are usually correctly diagnosed as villous atrophy or sprue-like enteropathy.

These Benicar side effects are very serious and can lead to malnutrition, dramatic weight loss, intestinal damage and chronic diarrhea.

Between 2008 and 2011, the Mayo clinic treated 22 patients who had symptoms similar to Celiac disease. These symptoms included chronic diarrhea, malabsorption of nutrients and significant weight loss.

The patients were tested for Celiac disease, but they discovered that all the patients took Benicar. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder that causes inflammation in the gastrointestinal track when a patient ingests products containing gluten proteins.

In April 2014, the FDA required Daiichi include Benicar side effects on the label that indicated Benicar was associated with gastrointestinal side effects.

There are other Benicar side effects. These include:

• Abdominal pain
• Chest pain
• Liver impairment
• Rash
• Arthritis
• Kidney problems, including failure
• Angioedemea (rapid swelling of the skin)
• Hair loss
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Irregular heart beat

Alarmingly, Benicar also includes a black box warning which is the FDA’s strongest warning. Benicar’s black box warning is for fetal toxicity. This means that if a pregnant woman takes Benicar, it may harm or kill the fetus.

Leo’s Benicar side effects products liability lawsuit raises claims of design defect, failure to warn, gross negligence, negligence, negligence per se, negligent misrepresentation, negligent design, fraudulent concealment, constructive fraud, breach of express warranty, breach of implied warranty, unjust enrichment, violation of state consumer protection laws and punitive damages.

The plaintiff is suing both Daiichi Sankyo as well as Forest Laboratories and related companies.

The Benicar Side Effects Lawsuit is Case No. 1:17-cv-00026-RBK-JS in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, Camden Vicinage.