Benicar, a popular and commonly used hypertension medication, is prescribed to treat elevated levels of blood pressure. Lowering high blood pressure is known to reduce the risks involved in developing heart attacks and strokes.

However, though it may be prescribed to over 11 million people throughout the U.S., research has revealed evidence of Benicar sprue-like enteropathy, a set of severe adverse gastrointestinal side effects.

Some common side effects include substantial weight loss, villous atrophy, sprue-like enteropathy, electrolyte imbalance, severe and chronic diarrhea, and other gastrointestinal side effects that may be properly misdiagnosed as celiac symptoms.

Benicar is an angiotensin II receptor blocker, or ARB. It was approved for U.S. sales on April 25th, 2002 for treatment of high blood pressure, or hypertension, along with eight marketed ARB drugs.

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, frequent occurrence of Benicar sprue-like enteropathy has not been detected in any other of the eight ARB medications except for Benicar.

According to the federal agency, in 2012, roughly 10.6 million prescriptions were allotted. Of these, 1.9 million were prescriptions for Benicar distributed from United States retail pharmacies.

Symptoms of Benicar sprue-like enteropathy are severe. They include symptoms such as chronic diarrhea and substantial weight loss.

Benicar Sprue-Like Enteropathy FDA Facts

The FDA has issued a drug safety communication warning that taking Benicar can cause intestinal problems and they have changed the labels of this drug to warn against this possible side effect.

The federal agency further notes that Benicar sprue-like enteropathy may develop months to even years after starting the blood pressure medication, and it also may cause some patients to become hospitalized.

Reports filed with the FDA show that discontinuing Benicar has “resulted in clinical improvement of sprue-like enteropathy symptoms in all patients,” the agency states.

Based on reports of Benicar sprue-like enteropathy lodged with the FDA’s adverse event reporting system, the agency says it found “clear evidence of an association” of Benicar sprue-like enteropathy.

According to the FDA, moreover, the Mayo Clinic published a case series of a Benicar sprue-like enteropathy association, in June 2012, of 22 patients. It had concluded in the case series that, “patients in the Mayo Clinic case series developed diarrhea, weight loss, and villous atrophy… and drug discontinuation resulted in clinical improvement.”

Accordingly, the case series of the Benicar sprue-like enteropathy association further published that “eighteen patients had follow-up intestinal biopsies histologically demonstrating recovery or improvement of the duodenum after discontinuation” of Benicar, the agency stated.

According to reports, a multitude of Benicar sprue-like enteropathy lawsuits have been filed alleging that the manufacturers of the drug, Forest Laboratories Inc., and its subsidiary Daiishi Sankyo, Inc. have failed to properly warn consumers of the serious adverse side effects that may result from the drug’s use. The warning labels allegedly failed to advise and sufficiently inform both the consumer and medical community.

Patients advise that had they been given sufficient warning of the Benicar sprue-like enteropathy association and risk, they would have avoided unnecessary permanent gastrointestinal impairment and pain.