And why not? The US dollar is playing how-low-can-you-go and drugmakers are distracted as they scramble to cut costs. “It’s like the Manhattan real estate market,” David Webster of Webster Consulting, tells Reuters. “What keeps it afloat are the Japanese and Europeans or whoever seems to be making money worldwide and whoever has a strong currency.”

Here are the examples: Takeda Pharmaceutical agreed to pay $8.8 billion for Millenium Pharmaceuticals. Eisai recently acquired MGI Pharma for $3.9 billion. AstraZeneca bought MedImmune for $15.6 billion. Roche acquired Ventana Medical Systems for $3.4 billion. Glaxo paid $1.65 billion for Reliant Pharmaceuticals. And Novartis will buy a 77 percent stake in Alcon for up to $39 billion.

Currency is in their favor. The dollar has fallen about 17 percent against the euro and about 15 percent against the yen since the beginning of 2007, Reuters notes. “Clearly, there’s a currency benefit for the foreign buyers right now and that’s going to be a common theme this year,” Bihag Patel, senior portfolio manager at Fort Washington Investment Advisors, tells Reuters. “Overall, I think it is going to be a good year for health care M&A, and the foreign companies have the upper hand right now.”

So, who’s next?