New Jersey and 43 other states have accused 20 companies – 11 of which are in the Garden State – of illegally conspiring to artificially inflate the prices of more than 100 generic drugs, according to the Office of Attorney General (see list below).

In a lawsuit filed in US District Court, the complaint also names 16 individual defendants – drug company executives responsible for sales, marketing, pricing and operations – and outlines their alleged involvement in "one of the most egregious and damaging price-fixing conspiracies in the history of the United States," according to the OAG release. More than half of the corporate defendants are based in New Jersey, and five of the individual defendants reside in the Garden State, according to the release.

"We all know that prescription drugs can be expensive. Now we know that high drug prices have been driven in part by an illegal conspiracy among generic drug companies to inflate their prices," said Attorney General Gurbir Grewal. "It is particularly troubling that so much of this unlawful conduct took place in New Jersey. I've said before and I'll say again that New Jersey's pharmaceutical industry is the envy of the world. But no New Jersey company will get a free pass when it violates the law and harms our residents, just because it is located here." The complaint alleges that price-fixing by the defendants has caused significant financial damage to state health plans, taxpayer-funded federal healthcare programs like Medicare and Medicaid, employer-sponsored health plans and individual consumers who pay out-of-pocket for their generic medications, according to the release.

Drugs subject to the unlawful pricing manipulations included all classes of medication, including oral antibiotics, blood thinners, cancer drugs, contraceptives, anti-inflammatory drugs, statins, anti-depressants, medications used to treat HIV, blood pressure medications and many more. The complaint alleges that the collusive activity peaked between July 2013 and January 2015, when one of the participants in the alleged conspiracy, Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc., is alleged to have significantly raised prices on about 387 formulations of 112 different generic drugs.

The size of the alleged price increases varies, but a number of drugs saw their prices soar by "well over 1,000 percent," according to the release.

Ironically, Gov. Phil Murphy once said Teva USA's presence is "critical" for New Jersey. The company also is facing allegations it contributed to the national opioid crisis. Read more: NJ Gives $40M Tax Break To Pharma Co. Accused Of Pushing Opioids

Corporate defendants named include the following. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc., North Wales, Pa.

Sandoz, Inc., Princeton

Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc., Canonsburg, Pa.

Actavis Holdco US, Inc., Parsippany

Actavis Pharma, Inc., Parsippany

Amneal Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Bridgewater

Apotex Corp., Weston, Fla.

Aurobindo Pharma U.S.A., Inc., South Brunswick

Breckenridge Pharmaceutical, Inc., Fairfield

Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Inc., Princeton

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Inc. USA, Mahwah

Greenstone LLC, North Peapack

Lannett Company, Inc., Philadelphia

Lupin Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Baltimore

Par Pharmaceutical Companies, Inc., Chestnut Ridge, NY

Pfizer, Inc., New York City

Taro Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc., Hawthorne, NY

Upsher-Smith Laboratories, LLC, Maple Grove, Minn.

Wockhardt USA, LLC, Parsippany

Zydus Pharmaceuticals (USA), Inc., North Pennington Individual defendants named in the complaint include: