BUSINESS COMBINATIONS (Details 6)			1 Months Ended				3 Months Ended					3 Months Ended		3 Months Ended		3 Months Ended		3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2012 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2011 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2011 Sanitas USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2011 Sanitas EUR (€)	Aug. 31, 2011 Sanitas USD ($)	Jul. 31, 2011 Sanitas	Mar. 31, 2012 Sanitas USD ($) country product Y	Sep. 22, 2011 Sanitas	Sep. 15, 2011 Sanitas	Aug. 19, 2011 Sanitas USD ($)	Aug. 18, 2011 Sanitas USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2012 Sanitas Product brands Y	Aug. 19, 2011 Sanitas Product brands USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2012 Sanitas Product rights Y	Aug. 19, 2011 Sanitas Product rights USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2012 Sanitas Corporate brands Y	Aug. 19, 2011 Sanitas Corporate brands USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2012 Sanitas Partner relationships Y	Aug. 19, 2011 Sanitas Partner relationships USD ($)
Business Combinations
Additional outstanding common shares acquired, percentage			6.40%	6.40%	87.20%	4.80%
Additional cash consideration paid			$ 27,400,000		$ 392,300,000
Additional outstanding common shares acquired			1,968,631	1,968,631		1,502,432
Outstanding common shares acquired, percentage									98.40%	92.00%
Outstanding common shares acquired									30,593,656	28,625,025
Noncontrolling interest, percent								1.60%		8.00%	4.80%
Noncontrolling interest, fair value										34,800,000	21,100,000
Purchase price per share (in euros per share)				€ 10.06
Noncontrolling interest, number of shares								512,264
Amount due shareholders of acquiree	543,310,000	527,583,000					2,400,000
Number of products in product portfolio							390
Number of countries of operation							9
Assets acquired and liabilities assumed
Cash and cash equivalents										5,607,000
Accounts receivable										25,645,000
Inventories										22,010,000
Other current assets										3,166,000
Property, plant and equipment										83,288,000
Identifiable intangible assets, excluding acquired IPR&D										247,127,000			164,823,000		43,027,000		25,227,000		14,050,000
Acquired IPR&D	531,372,000	531,352,000								747,000
Other non-current assets										2,662,000
Current liabilities										(30,428,000)
Long-term debt, including current portion										(67,134,000)
Deferred income taxes, net										(43,269,000)
Other non-current liabilities										(6,049,000)
Total identifiable net assets										243,372,000
Goodwill										204,791,000
Total fair value of consideration transferred										448,163,000
Fair value of accounts receivable acquired										25,600,000
Gross contractual amount of trade accounts receivable acquired										27,800,000
Expected uncollectible of trade accounts receivable acquired										$ 2,200,000
Estimated weighted-average useful life (in years)							8					7		7		15		7