CLEVELAND, Ohio — Cuyahoga County on Monday joined several cities and counties in suing opioid manufacturers, distributors, pharmacies and others tied to the painkiller epidemic that devastated communities across the country.

The new lawsuit, filed in federal court, is among the thousands filed by cities and counties across the country over the crisis. The cases are consolidated into one case and handled by U.S. District Judge Dan Polster in Cleveland.

Cuyahoga County and others have already filed and settled several lawsuits, mostly against the largest companies that doled out millions of prescription pills that helped fuel the epidemic. The new lawsuit targets another tier of companies that made, marketed and sold prescription opioids.

Five other counties, including Lorain, and 17 cities joined in the lawsuit. Several of the cities are in Cuyahoga County. Others include Warren, Dayton and Toledo.

“Prescription drug manufacturers, wholesalers/distributors, pharmacies, and pharmacy benefit managers have created this epidemic,” the lawsuit said.

Monday’s lawsuit lists 28 companies as defendants in the case. They represent the array of companies involved in prior lawsuits — makers, distributors and pharmacies. It’s also the first time Cuyahoga County sued several pharmacy benefit managers— companies typically hired by governments, employers and insurers to facilitate prescription drug programs.

Among those named as defendants are: several generic opioid makers, such as Mylan Pharmaceuticals and Amneal Pharmaceuticals; Abbott Laboratories, a distributor who partnered with OxyCotin-maker Purdue Pharma; pharmacy benefit manufacturers Optimum Rx and Express Scripts; and pharmacies Kroger, Costco and Target.

Indivinor, which made and marketed suboxone, a drug that is used to help with opioid withdrawal, is also named in the suit. The company has paid $2 billion to settle criminal charges and civil lawsuits filed by the U.S. Department of Justice.

The allegations in the lawsuit mirror thousands of others filed over the last five years — that companies pushed opioids in part through deceptive marketing and turned a blind eye to the destruction in the pursuit of profits.

“This case is about one thing: corporate greed,” the lawsuit said. “Defendants put their desire for profits above the health and well-being of consumers in plaintiffs’ geographic area at the cost of plaintiffs.”

Doctors overprescribed opioids, flooding the market and addicting tens of thousands of people. Many turned to street drugs like heroin to stave off addiction.

The epidemic included the deaths of more than 500,000 people in the U.S. since 2002 and cost cities and counties millions of dollars responding to and attempting to gain control of the crisis, the lawsuit said.

That has cost cities and counties millions of dollars in extra police and ambulance calls, drug treatment for residents and funding for school programs to help children and parents dealing with the fallout from addiction.

Companies have paid out billions of dollars to cities, states, municipalities and school districts to settle the lawsuits. Last year, Polster ordered three pharmacy chains — Walmart, CVS and Walgreens— to pay Lake and Trumbull counties $650 million.

Cities in Cuyahoga County that are suing the companies are: Broadview Heights, Euclid, Garfield Heights, North Olmsted, Olmsted Falls, Parma, Parma Heights, Seven Hills, Strongsville and Warrensville Heights.

Adam Ferrise covers federal courts at cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer. You can find his work here.