BOSTON (AP) — Attorneys general from more than 40 states are alleging the nation’s largest generic drug manufacturers conspired to artificially inflate and manipulate prices for more than 100 different generic drugs, including treatments for diabetes, cancer, arthritis and other medical conditions.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Connecticut on Friday, also names 15 individual senior executives responsible for sales, marketing and pricing.

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, a Democrat, said investigators obtained evidence implicating 20 firms.

“We have hard evidence that shows the generic drug industry perpetrated a multibillion dollar fraud on the American people,” Tong said. “We have emails, text messages, telephone records and former company insiders that we believe will prove a multi-year conspiracy to fix prices and divide market share for huge numbers of generic drugs.”

Tong said the investigation had uncovered a primary reason why the cost of health care — and specifically generic prescription drugs — has been so high in this country.

The surging prices of prescription drugs have drawn the attention of a number of politicians across the political spectrum from President Donald Trump to liberal Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

The new court suit was the second that has been filed in the investigation. The first, filed in 2016, named 18 corporate defendants and two individual defendants. Two former drug company executives entered into settlement agreements and are cooperating with the attorneys general in the investigation.