SEGMENT INFORMATION (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended				3 Months Ended		1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended				1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	10 Months Ended	12 Months Ended									12 Months Ended						12 Months Ended								12 Months Ended			12 Months Ended					12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2009	Sep. 28, 2010	Dec. 31, 2011 Clindamycin and Benzoyl Peroxide Gel [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Fluorouracil Cream [Member]	Sep. 30, 2010 Valeant Pharmaceuticals International ("Valeant")	Dec. 31, 2011 Valeant Pharmaceuticals International ("Valeant")	Dec. 31, 2010 Valeant Pharmaceuticals International ("Valeant")	Dec. 31, 2011 Dermik	Dec. 31, 2011 Ortho Dermatologics	Dec. 31, 2011 iNova	Dec. 31, 2011 Afexa	Dec. 31, 2011 PharmaSwiss S.A.	Dec. 31, 2011 PharmaSwiss S.A.	Dec. 31, 2011 Sanitas	Dec. 31, 2011 Total	Dec. 31, 2010 Total	Dec. 31, 2009 Total	Dec. 31, 2011 U.S. Neurology and Other	Dec. 31, 2010 U.S. Neurology and Other	Dec. 31, 2009 U.S. Neurology and Other	Sep. 28, 2010 U.S. Neurology and Other	Dec. 31, 2011 U.S. Neurology and Other Valeant Pharmaceuticals International ("Valeant")	Dec. 31, 2010 U.S. Neurology and Other Valeant Pharmaceuticals International ("Valeant")	Dec. 31, 2011 U.S. Dermatology	Dec. 31, 2010 U.S. Dermatology	Dec. 31, 2009 U.S. Dermatology	Sep. 28, 2010 U.S. Dermatology	Dec. 31, 2011 U.S. Dermatology Valeant Pharmaceuticals International ("Valeant")	Dec. 31, 2010 U.S. Dermatology Valeant Pharmaceuticals International ("Valeant")	Dec. 31, 2011 U.S. Dermatology Dermik	Dec. 31, 2011 U.S. Dermatology Ortho Dermatologics	Dec. 31, 2011 Canada and Australia	Dec. 31, 2010 Canada and Australia	Dec. 31, 2009 Canada and Australia	Sep. 28, 2010 Canada and Australia	Dec. 31, 2011 Canada and Australia Valeant Pharmaceuticals International ("Valeant")	Dec. 31, 2010 Canada and Australia Valeant Pharmaceuticals International ("Valeant")	Dec. 31, 2011 Canada and Australia iNova	Dec. 31, 2011 Canada and Australia Afexa	Dec. 31, 2011 Branded Generics - Europe	Dec. 31, 2010 Branded Generics - Europe	Dec. 31, 2009 Branded Generics - Europe	Sep. 28, 2010 Branded Generics - Europe	Dec. 31, 2011 Branded Generics - Europe Valeant Pharmaceuticals International ("Valeant")	Dec. 31, 2010 Branded Generics - Europe Valeant Pharmaceuticals International ("Valeant")	Dec. 31, 2011 Branded Generics - Europe PharmaSwiss S.A.	Dec. 31, 2011 Branded Generics - Europe Sanitas	Dec. 31, 2011 Branded Generics - Latin America	Dec. 31, 2010 Branded Generics - Latin America	Dec. 31, 2011 Branded Generics - Latin America Valeant Pharmaceuticals International ("Valeant")	Dec. 31, 2010 Branded Generics - Latin America Valeant Pharmaceuticals International ("Valeant")	Dec. 31, 2011 Corporate	Dec. 31, 2010 Corporate	Dec. 31, 2009 Corporate
Segment reporting information
Revenues	$ 2,463,450,000	$ 1,181,237,000	$ 820,430,000																	$ 829,289,000	$ 658,312,000	$ 575,321,000		$ 229,500,000	$ 60,800,000	$ 568,298,000	$ 219,008,000	$ 146,267,000		$ 275,000,000	$ 57,200,000	$ 7,600,000	$ 9,600,000	$ 340,240,000	$ 161,568,000	$ 83,959,000		$ 190,100,000	$ 47,600,000		$ 12,600,000	$ 470,783,000	$ 73,312,000	$ 14,883,000		$ 186,300,000	$ 40,000,000	$ 199,900,000	$ 49,600,000	$ 254,840,000	$ 69,037,000	$ 253,800,000	$ 69,000,000
Segment profit (loss)	720,652,000	366,666,000	406,597,000																	415,273,000	251,129,000	274,548,000		42,600,000	33,100,000	185,129,000	47,737,000	87,860,000		54,500,000	27,400,000			104,083,000	51,043,000	35,037,000		32,300,000	17,000,000			18,331,000	20,646,000	9,152,000		30,100,000	12,900,000	41,600,000	16,300,000	(2,164,000)	(3,889,000)	48,700,000	21,600,000
Corporate	(180,007,000)	(155,794,000)	(124,269,000)
Restructuring and integration costs	(97,667,000)	(140,840,000)	(30,033,000)
Acquired IPR&D	(109,200,000)	(89,245,000)	(59,354,000)
Acquisition-related costs	(32,964,000)	(38,262,000)	(5,596,000)				(38,300,000)			(9,500,000)	(5,300,000)	(3,700,000)	(3,300,000)	(2,100,000)		(8,400,000)
Legal settlements	(11,841,000)	(52,610,000)	(6,191,000)
Acquisition-related contingent consideration	10,986,000														(13,200,000)
Operating income (loss)	299,959,000	(110,085,000)	181,154,000
Interest income	4,084,000	1,294,000	1,118,000
Interest expense	(333,041,000)	(84,307,000)	(24,881,000)
Write-down of deferred financing charges	(1,485,000)	(5,774,000)	(537,000)
Loss on early extinguishment of debt	(36,844,000)	(32,413,000)
Foreign exchange and other	26,551,000	574,000	507,000												2,700,000
Gain (loss) on investments, net	22,776,000	(5,552,000)	17,594,000
(Loss) income before recovery of income taxes	(18,000,000)	(236,263,000)	174,955,000
Share-based compensation expense	94,023,000	98,033,000	5,613,000					58,600,000	37,100,000																																													93,000,000	48,600,000	5,600,000
Total assets	13,141,713,000	10,795,117,000	2,059,290,000														12,475,402,000	10,272,786,000	1,666,706,000	4,436,835,000	5,013,016,000	1,409,243,000				3,076,747,000	1,905,261,000	169,164,000						1,876,529,000	1,011,722,000	76,739,000						1,853,931,000	920,796,000	11,560,000						1,231,360,000	1,421,991,000			666,311,000	522,331,000	392,584,000
Identifiable intangible assets and goodwill																								3,400,400,000	3,639,500,000					1,537,100,000	1,694,700,000							658,400,000	836,800,000							644,600,000	740,500,000					992,300,000	1,185,600,000
Identifiable intangible assets	7,657,798,000	6,372,780,000																														341,700,000	333,600,000							424,000,000	80,600,000							209,200,000	247,100,000
Goodwill	3,598,786,000	3,001,376,000		100,294,000																1,542,203,000	1,354,955,000		68,029,000			491,651,000	481,441,000		18,495,000			8,100,000	3,500,000	580,274,000	398,815,000		9,655,000			211,800,000	3,100,000	625,474,000	352,144,000		4,115,000			159,700,000	204,800,000	359,184,000	414,021,000
Capital Expenditures, and Depreciation and Amortization
Total capital expenditures	58,515,000	16,823,000	7,423,000														37,689,000	15,630,000	6,098,000	233,000	8,080,000	6,098,000				1,401,000	652,000							2,066,000	804,000							9,561,000	3,083,000							24,428,000	3,011,000			20,826,000	1,193,000	1,325,000
Total depreciation and amortization	612,603,000	254,504,000	149,260,000														606,459,000	247,386,000	140,564,000	217,110,000	171,817,000	110,876,000				177,876,000	35,580,000	23,981,000						53,627,000	14,791,000	5,707,000						88,367,000	10,406,000							69,479,000	14,792,000			6,144,000	7,118,000	8,696,000
Impact of adjustments related to provisional fair value adjustment to identifiable intangible assets																				33,100,000	15,400,000					50,900,000	17,800,000							32,200,000	6,700,000							62,300,000	6,700,000							43,700,000	12,100,000
Impairment charges on intangible assets					$ 7,900,000	$ 19,800,000