A Benicar lawsuit was filed in Louisiana court against Daiichi Sankyo Pharmaceuticals alleging the company disregarded the public’s safety by not disclosing the full nature and extent of the risk and side effects associated with using Benicar.

Plaintiff Bernadette Bujol-Brown in her Benicar lawsuit that she was injured as a result of her use of Benicar, a medication prescribed to treat her high blood pressure, manufactured, marketed, and distributed by Daiichi Sankyo. According to Bujol-Brown, Benicar caused her to suffer severe and debilitating gastrointestinal problems, including numerous lesions, gastric antral vascular ectasia, or ‘active bleeding.’

The Benicar lawsuit further alleges Daiichi Sankyo knew and, in fact, advertised and promoted the use of Benicar despite their failure to test or otherwise determine the safety and efficacy of such use. As a direct and proximate result of Daiichi Sankyo’s widespread promotional activity, the Benicar lawsuit alleges, physicians began commonly prescribing Benicar as safe and effective.

What is Benicar?

Benicar is an angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) used to treat high blood pressure (hypertension). It is sometimes prescribed with other blood pressure medications. It lowers high blood pressure in patients by helping the blood vessels in the body to widen, preventing constriction of the vessels.

Benicar is one of eight marketed ARB drugs, and the only one linked to sprue-like enteropathy. An estimated 1.9 million people received prescriptions for Benicar or a related drug in 2012, and about 10.6 million prescriptions for Benicar products were dispensed altogether that year. It is the third highest selling ARB blood pressure medication on the market.

FDA Warns Benicar Use May Cause Enteropathy, GI Side Effects

In July 2013, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced Benicar would receive a label update to reflect the risk of sprue-like enteropathy, which has symptoms similar to those of celiac disease. According to the FDA’s drug safety communication, this gastrointestinal disorder can cause symptoms that include severe, chronic diarrhea with substantial weight loss. The condition may take months or years to develop and may require hospitalization, the agency said.

The link between Benicar and enteropathy was first uncovered in 2012. Researchers from the Mayo Clinic found that over a three-year period, 22 patients taking Benicar displayed symptoms suggestive of celiac disease. However, blood tests for the patients did not support this diagnosis. When patients stopped taking the drug, their deliac disease symptoms improved, according to one of the authors of the study.

Several months later, researchers from the American College of Gastroenterology noted that olmesartan, the active ingredient in Benicar, had been linked to an additional 40 cases of sprue-like enteropathy. Some of the findings include but are not limited to:

• Symptoms of sprue-like enteropathy include severe, chronic diarrhea with substantial weight loss.
• The enteropathy may develop months to years after starting Benicar, sometimes require hospitalization.
• If patients taking Benicar develop these symptoms and no other cause is found, the drug should be discontinued, and therapy with another antihypertensive started.
• Discontinuation of Benicar has resulted in clinical improvement of spruce-like enteropathy symptoms in all patients.
• Sprue-like enteropathy has not been detected with ARD drugs other than Benicar.

Benicar Lawsuits

The Benicar Celiac Disease lawsuit is seeking all actual and punitive damages for Daichii Sankyo’s alleged failure to provide proper warnings regarding the severity of Benicar’s side effects. The filed complaint indicates a demand for a jury trial for this case.

The Benicar Celiac Disease Lawsuit is Bernadette Bujol-Brown v. Daiichi Sanko Inc., et al., Case No. 2:14-cv-01762-HGB-MBN, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.