A new Benicar HCT lawsuit has been filed by a woman claiming the blood pressure drug caused her severe gastrointestinal symptoms.

Plaintiff Lavina J. says she started taking Benicar HCT in May 2006. She now alleges she suffered a set of gastrointestinal symptoms that she attributes to the Benicar HCT she took.

According to Lavina’s Benicar HCT lawsuit, her use of that drug resulted in nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, severe weight loss, severe physical pain, psychological damage, and other secondary conditions. She also claims these alleged Benicar side effects resulted in economic losses in the forms of medical expenses, lost earnings and lost earning capacity.

Litigation Over Benicar HCT

Benicar HCT is one of a group of drugs that contain olmesartan, a drug used to treat hypertension. Olmesartan is also found in Benicar, Azor and Tribenzor. It’s manufactured and distributed by Daiichi Sankyo, Forest Laboratories and their related companies, all of whom Lavina has named as defendants in her Benicar HCT lawsuit.

This Benicar HCT lawsuit is one of about 1,300 similar claims that have been consolidated into a single multidistrict litigation before Judge Robert Kugler in a federal court in New Jersey. The allegations made by these plaintiffs are generally similar to Lavina’s: they typically allege that they suffered severe gastrointestinal symptoms, particularly severe diarrhea with abnormal weight loss.

Some claimants allege their Benicar treatment causes 10 to 20 attacks of diarrhea per day, with weight loss of 75 to 100 pounds in some cases. Others allege secondary conditions that resulted from malnutrition, such as infections or cataracts. Some claims are being brought by the survivors of Benicar patients who died of their symptoms.

These symptoms are sometimes identified together as a condition known as sprue-like enteropathy – or in the case of this Benicar litigation, olmesartan associated enteropathy.

Plaintiffs in the Benicar multidistrict litigation refer to a July 2013 announcement by the FDA requiring a new warning to be added to the labels for Benicar, Benicar HCT, Azor and Tribenzor. The FDA mandated the new warning after a review of its adverse event reporting system revealed several cases of sprue-like enteropathy that occurred while the patients were taking olmesartan products. All these patients’ symptoms improved after they ceased taking olmesartan.

The plaintiffs also say that Daiichi Sankyo marketed Benicar products too aggressively, without addressing the associated risks of side effects. The company apparently described Benicar as being more effective than other drugs in its class.

The FDA found these claims to be unsubstantiated and false or misleading in 2006, the plaintiffs say. The agency found no evidence to substantiate the claim that Benicar was any more effective than other, similar drugs.

The FDA also found Daiichi Sankyo’s marketing materials omitted important information about some associated risks and understated the risks it did present. The agency ordered Daiichi Sankyo and Forest to stop making these statements and to take steps to correct the statements already made.

Lavina’s Benicar HCT lawsuit is Case No. 1:16-CV-01079 filed within the larger Benicar multidistrict litigation, MDL No. 2606 in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

Sixty-seven other Benicar lawsuits have been consolidated into a multicounty litigation in New Jersey state court before Judge Nelson Johnson of Atlantic County.