A woman from California has filed a GI injury Benicar lawsuit after suffering severe gastrointestinal side effects from the hypertension drug.

Plaintiff Anna A. says she began taking Benicar HCT in 2012. She says she developed a long list of severe gastrointestinal problems, including severe diarrhea, weight loss, fatigue, and abdominal pain.

Anna attributes these gastrointestinal symptoms to the Benicar HCT she took. She accuses defendants Daiichi Sankyo and Forest Laboratories of failing to properly warn her about the risk of gastrointestinal symptoms presented by Benicar HCT.

Benicar HCT is a medication used to control high blood pressure. It’s a combination of hydrochlorothiazide, an older cardiovascular medication, and olmesartan, the generic medication also sold under the brand name Benicar.

Olmesartan is the active ingredient at issue in Anna’s GI injury Benicar lawsuit. Originally approved by the FDA in 2003, olmesartan has since been linked to sprue-like enteropathy, a condition characterized by severe and chronic diarrhea and excessive weight loss.

Sprue-like enteropathy symptoms are similar to those of celiac disease. Patients with this condition may also develop villous atrophy, an erosion of the interior surface of the small intestine.

Villous atrophy inhibits the body’s ability to absorb nutrients from food. Between the ensuing malnutrition and dehydration, patients with sprue-like enteropathy may lose an extraordinary amount of weight very quickly.

The link between Benicar and sprue-like enteropathy was publicized following an FDA warning issued in July 2013.

In that communication, the FDA advised doctors and patients that it had received a significant number of reports of cases of sprue-like enteropathy among users of Benicar and other olmesartan-based drugs.

The FDA said it found 23 such cases that presented as late-onset diarrhea with significant weight loss and in some cases villous atrophy. In all these reported cases, the patients’ symptoms improved after they stopped taking olmesartan. Other research studies produced similar reports, the agency said.

The FDA says sprue-like atrophy may not set in until months or even years after the patient starts taking Benicar. It may become serious enough to require hospitalization.

GI Injury Benicar Lawsuit Joins Others in MDL

Anna’s Benicar lawsuit will be combined with about 1,800 similar claims that are now pending in a multidistrict litigation, or MDL, in a New Jersey federal court.

This MDL is a collection of claims over the gastrointestinal symptoms linked to Benicar and related drugs. It was set up by the federal Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation so that pretrial processes could be dispatched more efficiently. By consolidating similar claims this way, the court system can avoid duplicative discovery and inconsistent judicial rulings.

Plaintiffs in the Benicar MDL are persons who suffered sprue-like enteropathy after taking olmesartan. Some claim they rapidly lost dozens of pounds in weight.

These plaintiffs generally allege Daiichi Sankyo and Forest Laboratories knew about the risk of sprue-like enteropathy associated with olmesartan, yet failed to properly notify doctors and patients about that risk.

Anna’s GI Injury Benicar Lawsuit is Case No. 1:17-cv-01721. The Benicar MDL is In re: Benicar (Olmesartan) Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2606, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.