Eleven people have sued Bayer Corp., alleging they suffered strokes caused by phenylpropanolamine, or PPA in Alka-Seltzer Plus they used, joining almost 700 people who are suing the company in federal courts across the company. Bayer should have known that phenylpropanolamine, or PPA, was dangerous, said the plaintiffs.

“I think we’ll be able to show the dangers of PPA were commonly known within the medical and drug manufacturing community and they withheld that information from the public,” said H. Blair Hahn, of Richardson Patrick Westbrook and Brickman, LLC.

In November 2000, the Food and Drug Administration warned that dozens of over-the-counter cold medicines and diet pills containing PPA could cause hemorrhagic strokes, but the plaintiffs say the drug’s risks were well known even before the warning.

(via The Associated Press)