Daiichi Sankyo won its request to have a California Benicar chronic diarrhea lawsuit moved to federal court. The drug maker is facing a collection of lawsuits alleging the hypertension drug caused users to suffer intestinal damage and diarrhea.

Plaintiffs Susanne and Richard Ambler filed their Benicar diarrhea lawsuit in the Superior Court of California in San Diego. The couple alleged that Benicar’s manufacturer, Daiichi Sankyo, failed to adequately warn them, other consumers, and the medical community about the potential gastrointestinal side effects of Benicar.

Susanne Ambler claims that due to Benicar’s side effects, she had to be hospitalized for extended periods of time after she began using Benicar. She started the medication four years prior, and, according to her Benicar lawsuit, suffered from sprue-like enteropathy, lymphocytic colitis, microscopic colitis, chronic diarrhea, weight loss, nausea, vomiting, malnutrition, and dehydration. Ambler stated that neither she nor her prescribing doctors were aware of the side effects before she started using Benicar.

Benicar lawsuits allege that Daiichi deliberately withheld that information to protect Benicar’s profitability. On June 17, Daiichi Sankyo filed a notice of removal to transfer the Amblers’ lawsuit from California state court to federal court. The request was based on the company being incorporated in Delaware.

Ambler’s case is one of a growing number of Benicar diarrhea lawsuits filed since the FDA issued a warning last year, regarding the link between the hypertension medication and the development of sprue-like enteropathy that can result in severe and chronic diarrhea, weight loss, colitis, and other severe gastrointestinal problems.

Prior to the FDA warnings, it has been indicated that many Benicar patients had been suffering from these complications for years without knowing the association. Symptoms can last for months, or even years, after consumers start using Benicar. The symptoms confused some physicians, who treated them as if the victim has celiac disease. Treatments for celiac disease were ineffective, but a report found that once patients stopped taking Benicar, the symptoms usually resolved. Even if the diarrhea stops, the complications reportedly can lead to permanent intestine damage. With the intestines damaged, the body will have trouble absorbing nutrients and reduce digestive capabilities, dehydration, malnutrition, and electrolyte deficiencies.