The number of Benicar lawsuits continues to increase as the widow of a New Jersey Benicar consumer who allegedly died from using the olmesartan drug has chosen to file a wrongful death lawsuit against pharmaceutical company Daiichi Sankyo US Inc. This Benicar wrongful death lawsuit will join seven  other Benicar cases consolidated before a New Jersey federal court.

Deceased plaintiff William K. was prescribed Benicar as a hypertension drug treatment by his physician to help William manage his elevated blood pressure. According to the Benicar wrongful death lawsuit, William allegedly developed severe Benicar side effects, including sprue-like enteropathy, a gastrointestinal disease that causes uncontrollable diarrhea.

Because of the Benicar GI problems, William’s widow alleges her husband suffered greatly from uncontrollable diarrhea and eventually needed hospitalization after losing a significant amount of weight and sustaining severe damage to his GI tract. In February 2013, William allegedly died as a direct result of Benicar side effects.

William’s widow claims Sankyo failed to include any reference to possible GI complications possible when taking Benicar on the drug’s label. In absence of a GI warning, neither William nor his doctor were fully aware of the consequences of prescribing Benicar to the now deceased plaintiff. She further alleges Sankyo was aware of a strong correlation between Benicar use and increased risk of GI problems like sprue-like enteropathy since 2012.

Background on Benicar

The olmesartan hypertension drug Benicar is an angiotensin II receptor antagonist treatment manufactured and sold by Daiichi Sankyo, a Japanese pharmaceutical company. Sankyo first introduced their hypertension medication in the American medical market in 1995. Since then, over 11 million patients have been prescribed Benicar every year to manage their high blood pressure.

However, researchers have discovered user of Benicar have a higher risk of developing several risky health conditions and a number of harmful side effects.

These studies were followed by the July 2013 U.S. Food and Drug Administration public health notice, which warned Benicar consumers of sprue-like enterophathy and related GI problems allegedly caused by the hypertension medication.

Benicar Side Effects

On the Benicar warning label, consumers are only warned of the risk of kidney problems when taking olmesartan drug. According to various Benicar lawsuits, Sankyo neglected to mention the possibility of GI problems.

Some other side effects experienced by Benicar consumers include:

• Chronic diarrhea
• Sudden and severe weight loss
• Electrolyte imbalance
• Sprue-like enteropathy
• Villous atrophy
• Other GI problems regularly misdiagnosed as celiac symptoms

William is not the only patient to allegedly suffer from severe health problems after taking Benicar to manage a hypertension condition. Benicar users who were prescribed and consumed the Daiichi blood pressure medication for at least four months and were later hospitalized for severe GI problems should consider filing a Benicar lawsuit or joining a Benicar class action lawsuit.