A new dangerous drug lawsuit has been filed and joins hundreds of others in the Benicar multidistrict litigation in New Jersey.

Plaintiff Carolyn W., a Utah resident, filed her complaint against Benicar’s manufacturer Daiichi Sankyo. Carolyn stated in the filing that she suffered personal injury and economic losses as a result of taking Benicar.

According to the Benicar lawsuit, Carolyn began taking Benicar HCT in 2009. She experienced abdominal pain, chronic diarrhea, weight loss, and bloating as a result. She has brought several counts against the manufacturer including liability relating to design defect and failure to warn, as well as multiple counts of negligence and fraud.

Carolyn is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, interests, costs of suit, and any additional relief as deemed fair by the courts.

Benicar Side Effects

Benicar (olmesartan) is a prescription medication used to treat high blood pressure. Originally approved by the FDA in 2002, the drug works on the body’s blood vessels by helping them to stay open or dilated. Essentially providing the blood more space in which to flow, rather than squeezing through a narrow pathway, and thus the heart does not have to work so hard.

While many drugs have minimal common side effects like back pain, dizziness, joint or muscle pain, mild rash, or weakness, some side effects experienced by Benicar users are much more severe.

These serious Benicar side effects include:

• Severe abdominal pain and discomfort
• Chronic diarrhea
• Substantial weight loss
• Dehydration
• Malnutrition
• Intestinal disease (sprue-like enteropathy or villous atrophy)

While diarrhea may not seem like much more than an annoyance as far as side effects go, Benicar diarrhea is chronic and much more serious, leading to dehydration and electrolyte imbalance that may require hospitalization. Nutrients are not well absorbed with chronic diarrhea.

Some individuals experience life-changing effects of diarrhea and can’t leave their home for fear of not being close to a restroom when all bowel issues are a minor emergency throughout the day. Chronic diarrhea has affected individuals’ employment, social life, and family obligations, not to mention the personal worry and embarrassment about aberrant bodily functions.

The abdominal pain that accompanies Benicar use is also more than the average stomachache.  This pain, along with the chronic diarrhea and dangerous weight loss, often leads doctors to suspect Celiac disease.

Celiac disease is an allergy to gluten, the protein found in grains such as wheat, barley and rye. Benicar side effect symptoms often mimic those of Celiac disease, leading doctors to often misdiagnose patients’ symptoms and further delaying effective treatment and relief from their suffering.

Benicar patients often test negative for Celiac but do have a related condition called villous atrophy or sprue-like enteropathy. The villi, or fingerlike projections in the intestine, begin to flatten and erode. These villi help absorb nutrients and when they are compromised, the body’s nutrition is compromised.

In short, the gastrointestinal side effects of Benicar can have devastating effects leading to hospitalization and severe permanent damage to individuals who take the drug.

Benicar Lawsuit Information

Because of the large number of Benicar lawsuits across the county, the claims were consolidated and sent to a single court. This process, called multidistrict litigation (MDL) is used to help streamline the legal process, resulting in less resources being used (one court, one judge), speeds up the process, and allows for the rulings to be more consistent based on the evidence at hand.

If you or a loved one suffered severe gastrointestinal side effects after using Benicar, you may be entitled to compensation. Attorneys are available to offer free consultations to discuss your unique situation and can help you decide if filing and individual lawsuit or joining an MDL might be right for you.

The Benicar Lawsuit is Case No: 1:15-cv-05249-RBK-JS and is part of the Benicar MDL is In Re: Benicar (Olmesartan) Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2606, the U.S. District Court District of New Jersey Camden Vicinage.