A bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general is expandingits investigation into Big Pharma’s alleged role in the prescription painkiller and heroin addictionepidemic gripping the nation.

The group of 41 state AGs announced Tuesday that it is issuingsubpoenas to several pharmaceutical drug manufacturers forinformation about how the companies market their opioids. Theoriginal investigation, launched in June,applied only to OxyContin and Dilaudid maker Purdue Pharma Inc.

Related: CDC: Opioids are a last resort

Now the investigation has grown to include Endo PharmaceuticalsInc., maker of Opana and Percocet; Johnson & Johnson’s JanssenPharmaceuticals Inc., which makes Duragesic and Nucynta; TevaPharmaceuticals USA Inc., maker of Actiq and Fentora; and Kadianmanufacturer Allergan. The probe also extends to drug distributinggiants AmerisourceBergen Corp., Cardinal Health and McKessonCorp.

An email seeking comment from the trade group representing thepharmaceutical industry, the Pharmaceutical Research andManufacturers of America, or PhRMA, declined to comment.

These companies also are facing a spate of lawsuits in federal,state and county courts across the United States brought byplaintiffs lawyers who have teamed with government officials to sueBig Pharma through contingency fee agreements. The suits generallycontend prescription opioid drugmakers intentionally engaged in atargeted marketing campaign claiming that their painkillers couldbe prescribed nonaddictively. Instead, according to the suits andmany AGs’ comments issued Tuesday, the marketing techniques led topatients becoming addicted to the prescription opioidpainkillers.

“Too often, prescription opioids are the on-ramp to addictionfor millions of Americans,” said New York AG Eric Schneiderman in anews release. “We’re committed to getting to the bottom of a brokensystem that has fueled the epidemic and taken far too manylives.”

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Illegal and prescription opioids were involved in 33,091 deathsin 2015, including 2,754 in the state of New York, the New Yorkattorney general’s office said, citing statistics from the federalCenters for Disease Control and Prevention, which also said opioidoverdoses quadrupled since 1999.Maura Healey Attorney General ofMassachusetts.

“We deserve to hear from these drugmakers what they knew aboutthe addictive and deadly nature of opioid painkillers, and whetherthey misrepresented those risks in order to increase corporateprofits,” said Massachusetts AG Maura Healey in a statement. “Weare expanding our investigation into opioid manufacturers anddistributors to help uncover the roots of this deadly epidemic andprotect American families and communities ravaged by this publichealth crisis,” Healey said.

Opioid distributors alone make nearly $500 billion a year inrevenue, according to Schneiderman’s office.

The drug distributors that now are the target of the expandedinvestigation are likewise facing battles in the courtroom. TheCherokee Nation in June named those distributors in its complaintalleging that the companies illegally inundated the Nation with thedangerous drugs.

In addition to Healey, Connecticut AG George Jepsen, Georgia GCChris Carr and Vermont AG TJ Donovan are among the 41 AGs in thecoalition.

New York’s investigation is being conducted by AssistantAttorneys General Carol Hunt, Christopher Leung and Sara Mark ofthe health care bureau, under the supervision of bureau chief LisaLandau, counsel to the Medicaid fraud control unit Jay Speers andSpecial Assistant Attorneys General Kathryn Harris and ElizabethKappakas of the Medicaid fraud control unit, under the supervisionof director Amy Held and Assistant Deputy Attorney General Paul J.Mahoney, the AG’s office said.