Restructuring Charges and Other Costs Associated with Acquisitions and Cost-Reduction/Productivity Initiatives - Costs (Detail) - USD ($) $ in Millions		12 Months Ended
		Dec. 31, 2023	Dec. 31, 2022	Dec. 31, 2021
Restructuring charges:
Employee terminations		$ 1,622	$ 776	$ 680
Asset impairments		227	52	53
Exit costs/(credits)		119	54	8
Total restructuring charges/(credits)	[1]	1,968	882	741
Transaction costs	[2]	190	144	20
Integration costs and other	[3]	785	348	41
Restructuring charges and certain acquisition-related costs		2,943	1,375	802
Additional depreciation––asset restructuring recorded in our consolidated statements of income as follows	[4]	32	36	87
Implementation costs recorded in our consolidated statements of income as follows:
Implementation costs	[5]	457	616	472
Total costs associated with acquisitions and cost-reduction/productivity initiatives		3,426	2,018	1,298
Other (Income)/Deductions--net [Member]
Restructuring charges:
Net periodic benefit costs/(credits) recorded in Other (income)/deductions––net		(7)	(9)	(63)
Cost of Sales [Member]
Restructuring charges:
Additional depreciation––asset restructuring recorded in our consolidated statements of income as follows	[4]	31	34	63
Implementation costs recorded in our consolidated statements of income as follows:
Implementation costs	[5]	67	54	45
Selling, Informational and Administrative Expenses [Member]
Restructuring charges:
Additional depreciation––asset restructuring recorded in our consolidated statements of income as follows	[4]	1	2	23
Implementation costs recorded in our consolidated statements of income as follows:
Implementation costs	[5]	289	560	426
Research and Development Expense [Member]
Implementation costs recorded in our consolidated statements of income as follows:
Implementation costs	[5]	$ 101	$ 2	$ 1

[1] Primarily represents cost-reduction initiatives. Amounts associated with our Biopharma segment: $672 million for 2023 (including charges of $665 million for Realigning our Cost Base Program and credits of $20 million for Transforming to a More Focused Company program), $354 million for 2022 (including charges of $291 million for Transforming to a More Focused Company program) and $610 million for 2021 (including charges of $612 million for Transforming to a More Focused Company program).

[2] Represents external costs for banking, legal, accounting and other similar services.

[3] Represents external, incremental costs directly related to integrating acquired businesses, such as expenditures for consulting and the integration of systems and processes, and certain other qualifying costs. 2023 costs mostly relate to our acquisition of Seagen, including $476 million that was recognized as a post-closing compensation expense for payments to Seagen employees in the fourth quarter of 2023 for the fair value of long-term incentive awards that vested upon closing and the expense for employee incentive awards issued in contemplation of the merger. 2022 costs mostly related to our acquisitions of Arena and GBT, including $138 million in payments to Arena employees in the first quarter of 2022 and $136 million in payments to GBT employees in the fourth quarter of 2022 for the fair value of previously unvested long-term incentive awards that was recognized as post-closing compensation expense. See Note 2A. 2021 costs primarily related to our acquisition of Trillium.

[4] Represents the impact of changes in the estimated useful lives of assets involved in restructuring actions.

[5] Represents external, incremental costs directly related to implementing our non-acquisition-related cost-reduction/productivity initiatives.