Represents the maximum additional payment for research and early development of collaboration projects.

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Represents the initial upfront payment made by the entity in accordance with collaborative arrangements.

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Payments relating to collaboration.

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Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

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No definition available.

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The pro forma basic net income per share for a period as if the business combination or combinations had been completed at the beginning of a period.

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Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

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-Name Accounting Standards Codification

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The pro forma diluted net income per share for a period as if the business combination or combinations had been completed at the beginning of a period.

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The pro forma net Income or Loss for the period as if the business combination or combinations had been completed at the beginning of a period.

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The pro forma revenue for a period as if the business combination or combinations had been completed at the beginning of the period.

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The cash outflow associated with the acquisition of a business, net of the cash acquired from the purchase.

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The cash outflow associated with other investments held by the entity for investment purposes not otherwise defined in the taxonomy.

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The amount of the write-off for research and development assets that were acquired in a transaction other than a business combination.

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The aggregate costs incurred (1) in a planned search or critical investigation aimed at discovery of new knowledge with the hope that such knowledge will be useful in developing a new product or service, a new process or technique, or in bringing about a significant improvement to an existing product or process; or (2) to translate research findings or other knowledge into a plan or design for a new product or process or for a significant improvement to an existing product or process whether intended for sale or the entity's use, during the reporting period charged to research and development projects, including the costs of developing computer software up to the point in time of achieving technological feasibility, and costs allocated in accounting for a business combination to in-process projects deemed to have no alternative future use.

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Licensing, Acquisitions and Other Arrangements (Details 3) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, $ in Millions	3 Months Ended			6 Months Ended	9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2015	Sep. 30, 2014	Mar. 31, 2014	Sep. 30, 2015	Sep. 30, 2015	Sep. 30, 2014
Acquisitions
Acquired in-process research and development		$ 308			$ 150	$ 324
Cash outflows related to other acquisitions and investments					794	572
Cash outflows related to acquisitions and investments					11,488
C2N Diagnostics
Acquisitions
Additional payment	$ 685			$ 685	685
R&D \| Rare Pediatric Disease Priority Review Voucher From United Therapeutics Corporation
Acquisitions
Research and development expense	350
IPR&D
Acquisitions
Acquired in-process research and development	0	308			150	324
Cash outflows related to other acquisitions and investments					794	572
IPR&D \| C2N Diagnostics
Acquisitions
Initial upfront payment				100
IPR&D \| Calico Life Sciences LLC
Acquisitions
Payments relating to collaboration		250			500	250
Initial upfront payment		250
IPR&D \| Infinity Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Acquisitions
Initial upfront payment			$ 275
Additional payment	400			$ 400	400
Research and development expense	130
Pharmacyclics Inc
Pro forma combined results of operations
Net revenues	5,944	5,226			16,815	14,947
Net earnings	$ 1,332	$ 351			$ 3,780	$ 1,706
Basic earnings per share	$ 0.81	$ 0.20			$ 2.23	$ 0.99
Diluted earnings per share	$ 0.80	$ 0.20			$ 2.22	$ 0.98