Benciar Side Effects Lawsuit Filed

Pawnee, ILA Benicar side effects lawsuit has been filed against the makers and marketers of Benicar, alleging a patient who took Benicar suffered severe health problems as a result of her use of the blood pressure medication. The lawsuit alleges that the plaintiff’s use of Benicar ultimately caused her to undergo numerous medical procedures and her health problems only stopped when she discontinued her use of the drug.

According to court documents, Deborah and Richard Dirksen filed the lawsuit in October 2014 alleging Benicar is a “defective and unreasonably dangerous pharmaceutical blood pressure medication containing the drug olmesartan medoxomil.” The lawsuit argues that Deborah Dirksen was prescribed Benicar HCT in January 2009 and took the medication according to directions.

After taking the medication, Deborah developed “intestinal diseases/injuries known as sprue-like enteropathy and/or lymphocytic colitis, microscopic colitis, or collagenous colitis.” Those conditions caused chronic diarrhea, weight loss, vomiting, malnutrition and dehydration, which resulted in Deborah being admitted to the hospital for nine days due to renal failure.

Deborah alleges that while in the hospital she did not take Benicar, but once released from the hospital, she continued with her medication and her symptoms returned, resulting in another trip to the ER.

“Over the next several months, she suffered from chronic and severe diarrhea, requiring numerous doctor visits and treatment,” court documents state. “Finally, she stopped using olmesartan permanently and her symptoms subsequently resolved.” Unfortunately, as a result of the chronic diarrhea and/or the attempted treatments for the diarrhea, Deborah allegedly developed other conditions that require medical monitoring, screening, testing and/or treatment. As a result of the side effects allegedly suffered because of use of Benicar, Deborah suffered serious and life-threatening injuries, emotional distress and significant financial injury due to the medical care and hospitalizations.

On July 3, 2013, the FDA announced in a Drug Safety Communication that there would be a change to Benicar’s label, warning patients about the risk of sprue-like enteropathy, including that the enteropathy may take months to years to develop and could require hospitalization. That announcement was the result of the FDA identifying 23 cases in the Adverse Event Reporting System of patients who developed diarrhea and whose symptoms improved when they discontinued olmesartan medoxomil.

The plaintiffs allege that the defendants failed to properly warn about the risks associated with Benicar and knew or should have known that Benciar could cause unreasonable injuries.

The lawsuit is Deborah Dirksen and Richard A. Dirksen vs. Daiichi Sankyo, Inc., et al, case number 3:14-cv-03318-CSB-DGB, in the US District Court for the Central District of Illinois.