RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS (Details) (USD $)	0 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended			0 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	0 Months Ended
	Jan. 31, 2011	Mar. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Jan. 31, 2011 SB Holdings Capital Inc [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 SB Holdings Capital Inc [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 Beneficial Owner [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Beneficial ownership percentage GSK								18.00%
Treasury stock shares, acquired		4,500,000	3,430,000	17,297,000	14,693,000	15,400,000	15,400,000
Treasury stock acquired average cost per share		$ 56.21	$ 58.31	$ 54.05	$ 51.04	$ 54.30	$ 54.30
Treasury stock value acquired cost method		$ 251,000,000	$ 199,996,000	$ 934,994,000	$ 750,000,000	$ 835,000,000	$ 835,000,000
GSK shares sold in public offering	15,400,000
Net revenues clinical trials GSK					$ 63,000,000