Financial Instruments and Fair Value Measures - Transfers of Assets or Liabilities Between The Fair Value Measurement Levels (Details) - USD ($)	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2017	Sep. 30, 2016
Transfers of assets or liabilities between the fair value measurement levels
Transfer of assets from level 1 to level 2	$ 0
Transfer of assets from level 2 to level 1	0
Transfer of liabilities from level 1 to level 2	0
Transfer of liabilities from level 2 to level 1	0
Reconciliation of the fair value measurements that use significant unobservable inputs (Level 3)
Additions (see Note 4)	0	$ 3,985,000,000
Stemcentrx and BI
Reconciliation of the fair value measurements that use significant unobservable inputs (Level 3)
Beginning balance	4,213,000,000	0
Change in fair value recognized in net earnings	547,000,000	143,000,000
Milestone payments	(305,000,000)	0
Ending balance	$ 4,455,000,000	$ 4,128,000,000

Amount of transfers of assets measured on a recurring basis out of Level 1 of the fair value hierarchy into Level 2.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 820
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (bb)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=66048111&loc=d3e19207-110258

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Amount of transfers of assets measured on a recurring basis out of Level 2 of the fair value hierarchy into Level 1.

+ References

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- Definition

Amount of transfers of liabilities measured on a recurring basis out of Level 1 of the fair value hierarchy into Level 2.

+ References

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- Definition

Amount of transfers of liabilities measured on a recurring basis out of Level 2 of the fair value hierarchy into Level 1.

+ References

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- Definition

A roll forward is a reconciliation of a concept from the beginning of a period to the end of a period.

+ References

No definition available.

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- Definition

Amount of gain (loss) recognized on the income statement for financial instrument classified as a liability measured using unobservable inputs that reflect the entity's own assumption about the assumptions market participants would use in pricing.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 820
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (c)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=66048111&loc=d3e19207-110258

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- Definition

Amount of purchases of financial instrument classified as a liability measured using unobservable inputs that reflect the entity's own assumption about the assumptions market participants would use in pricing.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 820
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (c)(2)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=66048111&loc=d3e19207-110258

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- Definition

Amount of settlements of financial instrument classified as a liability measured using unobservable inputs that reflect the entity's own assumption about the assumptions market participants would use in pricing.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 820
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (c)(2)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=66048111&loc=d3e19207-110258

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- Definition

Fair value of financial instrument classified as a liability measured using unobservable inputs that reflect the entity's own assumption about the assumptions market participants would use in pricing.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 820
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (c)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=66048111&loc=d3e19207-110258

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- References

No definition available.

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