Acquisitions - Additional Information (Details) € in Millions												1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended			6 Months Ended	9 Months Ended				12 Months Ended
	Aug. 05, 2016 USD ($)	Aug. 02, 2016 USD ($)	Mar. 01, 2016 USD ($)	Jan. 22, 2016 USD ($)	Dec. 15, 2015 USD ($)	Sep. 15, 2015 USD ($)	Sep. 15, 2015 EUR (€)	Aug. 28, 2015 USD ($)	May 12, 2015 USD ($)	Mar. 30, 2015 USD ($) shares	Mar. 30, 2015 EUR (€) shares	May 31, 2015 USD ($)	Oct. 01, 2016 USD ($)		Sep. 26, 2015 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($)	Oct. 01, 2016 USD ($)		Sep. 26, 2015 USD ($)		Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($) products	Jun. 27, 2015 USD ($) shares	Dec. 02, 2014 USD ($)	Nov. 08, 2013 USD ($)
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Research and development													$ 50,200,000		$ 41,600,000		$ 142,500,000		$ 139,700,000
Senior notes													5,426,400,000			$ 4,698,300,000	5,426,400,000				$ 4,698,300,000			$ 2,300,000,000
Proceeds from stock issuance																						$ 999,300,000
Operating income (loss)													(1,468,300,000)		175,300,000		(1,515,100,000)	[1]	558,000,000	[1]
Proceeds from sale of business																	58,500,000		0
Impairment charge																$ 29,000,000	3,400,000
2014 bonds
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Senior notes																							$ 1,600,000,000
Ordinary shares
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Stock issued (in shares) | shares																						6,800,000
Contractual arrangement
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Research and development												$ 18,000,000
Benzaclin [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Acquisition date		Aug. 02, 2016
Purchase price paid		$ 62,000,000
Percentage of interests acquired		60.90%
Benzaclin [Member] | Distribution and license agreements, supply agreements
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Intangible assets weighted average useful life		9 years
Tretinoin Products
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Acquisition date				Jan. 22, 2016
Purchase price paid				$ 416,400,000
Contingent consideration				$ 0
Net sales													25,300,000				47,700,000
Operating income (loss)													13,000,000				31,300,000
Tretinoin Products | Developed product technology, formulations, and product rights
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Intangible assets weighted average useful life				20 years
Tretinoin Products | Non-compete agreements
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Intangible assets weighted average useful life				5 years
Development-Stage Rx Products
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Acquisition date			Mar. 01, 2016
Purchase price paid			$ 0
Contingent consideration			$ 24,900,000
Entocort®
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Acquisition date					Dec. 15, 2015
Purchase price paid					$ 380,200,000
Contingent consideration					$ 0
Entocort® | Minimum | Developed product technology, formulations, and product rights
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Intangible assets weighted average useful life					10 years
Entocort® | Maximum | Developed product technology, formulations, and product rights
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Intangible assets weighted average useful life					15 years
Naturwohl
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Acquisition date						Sep. 15, 2015	Sep. 15, 2015
Purchase price paid						$ 150,400,000
Contingent consideration						$ 0
Percentage of interests acquired						100.00%
Naturwohl | Non-compete agreements
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Intangible assets weighted average useful life						3 years	3 years
Naturwohl | Trademarks, trade names, and brands
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Intangible assets weighted average useful life						20 years	20 years
Naturwohl | Customer relationships and distribution networks
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Intangible assets weighted average useful life						15 years	15 years
Naturwohl | Distribution and license agreements, supply agreements
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Intangible assets weighted average useful life						3 years	3 years
Naturwohl | Euro
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Purchase price paid | €							€ 133.5
ScarAway®
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Acquisition date								Aug. 28, 2015
Purchase price paid								$ 26,700,000
Contingent consideration								$ 0
ScarAway® | Developed product technology, formulations, and product rights
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Intangible assets weighted average useful life								8 years
ScarAway® | Non-compete agreements
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Intangible assets weighted average useful life								4 years
ScarAway® | Trademarks, trade names, and brands
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Intangible assets weighted average useful life								25 years
ScarAway® | Customer relationships and distribution networks
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Intangible assets weighted average useful life								15 years
GSK Products
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Acquisition date								Aug. 28, 2015
Purchase price paid								$ 223,600,000
Contingent consideration								$ 0
GSK Products | Trademarks, trade names, and brands
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Intangible assets weighted average useful life								20 years
GSK Products | Customer relationships and distribution networks
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Intangible assets weighted average useful life								15 years
GSK Products | Euro
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Purchase price paid								$ 200,000,000
Gelcaps
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Acquisition date									May 12, 2015
Purchase price paid									$ 37,900,000
Contingent consideration									$ 0
Percentage of interests acquired									100.00%
Gelcaps | Trademarks, trade names, and brands
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Intangible assets weighted average useful life									25 years
Gelcaps | Customer relationships and distribution networks
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Intangible assets weighted average useful life									20 years
Gelcaps | Inventory
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Inventory adjustment									$ 600,000
Gelcaps | Property, plant and equipment
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Property, plant and equipment adjustment									$ 900,000
Omega
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Acquisition date										Mar. 30, 2015	Mar. 30, 2015
Purchase price paid										$ 2,983,200,000
Intangible assets weighted average useful life										20 years 7 months 6 days	20 years 7 months 6 days
Contingent consideration										$ 0
Percentage of interests acquired										95.77%
Shares outstanding (in shares) | shares										685,348,257
Treasury stock (in shares) | shares										30,243,983	30,243,983
Indemnification available from acquired company's sellers										$ 1,080,000
Omega | Non-compete agreements
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Intangible assets weighted average useful life										3 years	3 years
Omega | Trademarks, trade names, and brands
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Intangible assets weighted average useful life										8 years	8 years
Omega | Customer relationships and distribution networks
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Intangible assets weighted average useful life										21 years	21 years
Omega | Non-solicit agreement
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Intangible assets weighted average useful life										2 years	2 years
Omega | Brands
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Intangible assets weighted average useful life										22 years	22 years
Omega | Minimum | Developed product technology, formulations, and product rights
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Intangible assets weighted average useful life										4 years	4 years
Omega | Maximum
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Indemnification available from acquired company's sellers | €											€ 135.9
Omega | Maximum | Developed product technology, formulations, and product rights
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Intangible assets weighted average useful life										13 years	13 years
Omega | Euro | Maximum
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Indemnification available from acquired company's sellers										$ 120,900,000
Omega | Inventory
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Inventory adjustment										15,100,000
Omega | Property, plant and equipment
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Property, plant and equipment adjustment										41,500,000
Omega | Debt
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Business combination fair value adjustment										$ 101,900,000
All Other
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Business acquisitions, number of products purchased																8					4
Purchase price paid																	26,600,000	[2],[3]			$ 15,300,000
Contingent consideration													30,600,000	[2],[3]		$ 13,900,000	30,600,000	[2],[3]			$ 13,900,000
CHC
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Operating income (loss)													$ 99,300,000		$ 117,200,000		313,800,000		$ 351,700,000
Proceeds from sale of business	$ 61,800,000
Impairment charge																	$ 6,200,000

[1] The BCH segment was created on March 30, 2015 as a result of the Omega acquisition, thus data for the nine months ended September 26, 2015 includes only six months of results from operations attributable to Omega.

[2] * Opening balance sheet is preliminary

[3] Consists of four product acquisitions in the CHC and Rx segment