Other (Income)/Deductions - Net - Schedule of Other Nonoperating Income (Expense) - Footnotes (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions		12 Months Ended
		Dec. 31, 2021	Dec. 31, 2020	Dec. 31, 2019
Derivative [Line Items]
Interest costs capitalized		$ 108	$ 96	$ 88
Unrealized gain on equity securities	[1]	1,264	515	429
Intangible asset impairments			1,700	2,800
Other income, net	[2]	687	491	224
External incremental costs				152
Net losses on early retirement of debt				(138)
Transition Service Agreement [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Other income, net		288	114
Licensing Agreements [Member] | Other Nonoperating Income (Expense) [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Proceeds received from upfront payments and milestone payments		97	108	52
BioNTech [Member] | Collaborative Arrangement [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Proceeds received from upfront payments and milestone payments		188
Puma Technologies [Member] | Collaborative Arrangement [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Proceeds received from upfront payments and milestone payments			40
Eli Lilly & Company [Member] | Collaborative Arrangement [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Proceeds received from upfront payments and milestone payments			30
Mylan [Member] | Collaborative Arrangement [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Proceeds received from upfront payments and milestone payments				78
Disposed of by Sale, Not Discontinued Operations [Member] | CK1 Assets Sold To Biogen, Inc [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Cash received for disposition			75
BioNTech and Cerevel Therapeutics, LLC [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Unrealized gain on equity securities		1,600
BioNTech and SpringWorks [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Unrealized gain on equity securities			405
Cortexyme, Inc. and SpringWorks [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Unrealized gain on equity securities				295
ViiV [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Dividend income		166	278	220
Array [Member] | IPR&D [Member] | Biopharma [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Intangible asset impairments			900
Anacor [Member] | Developed Technology Rights [Member] | Eucrisa [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Intangible asset impairments				$ 2,600
Anacor [Member] | Developed Technology Rights [Member] | Eucrisa [Member] | Biopharma [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Intangible asset impairments			528
Hospira [Member] | Developed Technology Rights [Member] | Generic Sterile Injectable Product [Member] | Biopharma [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Intangible asset impairments			263
ViiV [Member]
Derivative [Line Items]
Change in fair value of fair value contingent consideration liabilities		$ 142	$ 105

[1] Included in net unrealized gains are observable price changes on equity securities without readily determinable fair values. As of December 31, 2021, there were cumulative impairments and downward adjustments of $97 million and upward adjustments of $156 million. Impairments, downward and upward adjustments were not significant in 2021, 2020 and 2019

[2] 2021 includes, among other things, (i) income net of costs associated with TSAs of $288 million; (ii) dividend income of $166 million from our investment in ViiV and (iii) charges of $142 million, reflecting the change in the fair value of contingent consideration. 2020 included, among other things, (i) dividend income of $278 million from our investment in ViiV; (ii) income net of costs associated with TSAs of $114 million and (iii) charges of $105 million, reflecting the change in the fair value of contingent consideration. 2019 included, among other things, (i) dividend income of $220 million from our investment in ViiV; (ii) charges of $152 million for external incremental costs, such as transaction costs and costs to separate our Consumer Healthcare business into a separate legal entity, associated with the formation of the Consumer Healthcare JV; and (iii) net losses on early retirement of debt of $138 million.