Note 11 - Business Combinations, Dispositions and Other Strategic Investments (Details)	1 Months Ended		3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended		1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended					9 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended			3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended		9 Months Ended	6 Months Ended	9 Months Ended		6 Months Ended		1 Months Ended					0 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended	1 Months Ended		3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended	9 Months Ended		0 Months Ended	9 Months Ended		0 Months Ended	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended	0 Months Ended	1 Months Ended		3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended
	Jun. 27, 2014	Apr. 17, 2014 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2013 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2013 USD ($)	Apr. 17, 2014 Other Nonoperating Income (Expense) [Member] Watson Product Disposition [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 Revenue Excluding Disposed Products [Member] VersaPharm [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 Revenue Excluding Disposed Products [Member] VersaPharm [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 Revenue Excluding Disposed Products [Member] Hi-Tech Pharmacal Co., Inc [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 Revenue Excluding Disposed Products [Member] Hi-Tech Pharmacal Co., Inc [Member] USD ($)	Apr. 17, 2014 Marketed Under Abbreviated New Drug Applications [Member] Watson Laboratories, Inc. [Member]	Apr. 17, 2014 Marketed Under a New Drug Application [Member] Watson Laboratories, Inc. [Member]	Sep. 30, 2014 Before Discount [Member] Betimol Acquisition [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 After Discount [Member] Betimol Acquisition [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 Rifampin [Member] VersaPharm [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2013 Lidocaine/Prilocaine Topical Cream [Member] Watson Laboratories, Inc. [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 Lidocaine/Prilocaine Topical Cream [Member] Watson Laboratories, Inc. [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2013 Lidocaine/Prilocaine Topical Cream [Member] Watson Laboratories, Inc. [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 Zioptan [Member] Licensing Agreements [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 Zioptan [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 Zioptan [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 Betimol [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 Betimol [Member] USD ($)	Apr. 17, 2014 Term Loan [Member] Hi-Tech Pharmacal Co., Inc [Member] JPMorgan [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 Licensing Agreements [Member] VersaPharm [Member]	Jun. 30, 2014 Licensing Agreements [Member] Hi-Tech Pharmacal Co., Inc [Member]	Sep. 30, 2014 Other Intangible Assets [Member] VersaPharm [Member]	Sep. 30, 2014 Trademarks [Member] VersaPharm [Member]	Jun. 30, 2014 Trademarks [Member] Hi-Tech Pharmacal Co., Inc [Member]	Jun. 30, 2014 Customer Relationships [Member] Hi-Tech Pharmacal Co., Inc [Member]	Jun. 27, 2014 Convertible Debt [Member] Aciex Agreement [Member] USD ($)	Apr. 17, 2014 Convertible Debt [Member] Aciex Agreement [Member] USD ($)	Apr. 17, 2014 Watson Product Disposition [Member] Hi-Tech Pharmacal Co., Inc [Member]	Aug. 12, 2014 Incremental Term Loan Agreement [Member] VersaPharm [Member] JPMorgan [Member] USD ($)	Apr. 17, 2014 Incremental Term Loan Agreement [Member] JPMorgan [Member] USD ($)	Aug. 12, 2014 VersaPharm [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 VersaPharm [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 VersaPharm [Member] USD ($)	Jul. 22, 2014 Excelvision [Member] USD ($)	Jul. 22, 2014 Excelvision [Member] CHF	Sep. 30, 2014 Excelvision [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 Excelvision [Member] USD ($)	Apr. 17, 2014 Hi-Tech Pharmacal Co., Inc [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 Hi-Tech Pharmacal Co., Inc [Member] USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2014 Hi-Tech Pharmacal Co., Inc [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 Hi-Tech Pharmacal Co., Inc [Member] USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2014 Hi-Tech Pharmacal Co., Inc [Member] USD ($)	Jan. 02, 2014 Betimol Acquisition [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 Betimol Acquisition [Member] USD ($)	Nov. 15, 2013 Merck Acquisition [Member] Inspire Pharmaceuticals [Member]	Nov. 15, 2013 Merck Acquisition [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 Merck Acquisition [Member] USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2013 Merck Acquisition [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 Merck Acquisition [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2011 Aciex Agreement [Member] USD ($)	Jun. 27, 2014 Aciex Agreement [Member]	Aug. 31, 2011 Aciex Agreement [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 Aciex Agreement [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 Aciex Agreement [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 ECR Pharmaceuticals Divestiture [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 ECR Pharmaceuticals Divestiture [Member] USD ($)	Jun. 20, 2014 ECR Pharmaceuticals Divestiture [Member] USD ($)	Apr. 17, 2014 Hi-Tech Pharmacal Co., Inc [Member] USD ($)
Note 11 - Business Combinations, Dispositions and Other Strategic Investments (Details) [Line Items]
Business Combination, Consideration Transferred																				$ 11,200,000																	$ 433,000,000			$ 24,000,000	21,700,000			$ 650,000,000						$ 11,500,000		$ 52,800,000		$ 52,800,000
Payments to Acquire Businesses, Gross																																					433,000,000							649,600,000					7,500,000	7,500,000
Business Combination, Provisional Information, Initial Accounting Incomplete, Adjustment, Consideration Transferred																																					7,000,000
Gain (Loss) on Disposition of Other Assets																1,000,000
Other Nonoperating Income			979,000	160,000	980,000	202,000										800,000
Debt Instrument, Face Amount																									600,000,000										445,000,000	445,000,000
Business Combination, Acquisition Related Costs			8,062,000	1,459,000	29,289,000	1,978,000																																6,500,000	7,500,000			300,000	300,000		700,000		20,700,000
Pre Existing Goodwill Asset																																						43,200,000	43,200,000
Acquired Finite-lived Intangible Assets, Weighted Average Useful Life																										11 years 146 days	15 years 255 days	11 years	3 years	9 years	1 year								11 years 146 days							15 years 219 days
Revenues								6,800,000	6,800,000	20,700,000	72,300,000										3,900,000	7,600,000	1,800,000	6,200,000																													6,900,000		22,700,000
Business Acquisition, Share Price (in Dollars per share)																																																$ 43.50
Payments to Acquire Businesses, Net of Cash Acquired																																												44,600,000
Common Stock, Par or Stated Value Per Share (in Dollars per share)																																																																$ 0.01
Class of Warrant or Right, Exercise Price of Warrants or Rights (in Dollars per share)																																																																$ 43.50
Business Acquisition, Goodwill, Expected Tax Deductible Amount																																														18,900,000
Number of Products Divested		1										3	1																																																		3
Disposal Group, Including Discontinued Operation, Revenue																	2,100,000	1,500,000	4,500,000																																											3,400,000
Business Acquisition, Percentage of Voting Interests Acquired																																												50.00%
Gain (Loss) on Disposition of Business		9,000,000					16,800,000																																																						900
Duration of Production																																		2 years																2 years
Disposal Group, Including Discontinued Operation, Consideration																																																													41,000	41,000	41,000,000
Income (Loss) from Discontinued Operations, Net of Tax, Including Portion Attributable to Noncontrolling Interest																																																														(500,000)
Product Acquisition Transitional Period																						2 years
Business Acquisition, Consideration, Sales Multiplier																																																	1.5
Business Acquisition, Duration Following the First Year Post-Acquisition																																																		60 days
Business Combination, Contingent Consideration Arrangements, Range of Outcomes, Value, High																																																		2,000,000
Business Combination, Contingent Consideration Arrangements, Triggering Sales Amount			14,000,000		14,000,000
Business Combination, Contingent Consideration Arrangements, Triggering Duration																																																		1 year
Business Combination, Contingent Consideration Arrangements, Triggering Duration Span																																																		5 years
Business Combination, Contingent Consideration, Liability														4,500,000	4,000,000																																			4,600,000
Business Combination, Contingent Consideration Arrangements, Change in Amount of Contingent Consideration, Liability																																																		100,000
Business Combination, Number of Products																																																			3		2		2
Payments to Acquire Additional Interest in Subsidiaries																																																								2,000,000		8,000,000
Payments for (Proceeds from) Other Investing Activities																																400,000	400,000
Business Acquisition Percentage Not Exceeded Of Voting Interests Acquired	20.00%																																																								10.80%
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Unrealized Gain (Loss)																																																											1,100,000	1,100,000
Available-for-sale Securities			12,458,000		12,458,000																																																						12,500,000	12,500,000
Available-for-sale Securities, Current			10,804,000		10,804,000																																																						10,800,000	10,800,000
Available-for-sale Securities, Noncurrent																																																											$ 1,700,000	$ 1,700,000