April 19 (Bloomberg) -- Japan’s largest drugmakers are on a biotechnology shopping spree, raising the cost of takeovers and new products in the global pharmaceuticals industry. Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. and Eisai Co. spent $500 million last month for acquisitions, almost five times as much as all Japanese companies paid in the two previous years for biotech. The deals came after Japan’s government cut prescription-drug prices 6.7 percent and companies failed to produce medicines with the potential to reach $1 billion in sales.
