| **Revenue Recognition**            | 9 Months Ended                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  |
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| **Revenue Recognition [Abstract]** |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            |
| Revenue Recognition                | 2.  Revenue RecognitionThe Company recognizes revenue from all sources based on the provisions of the SEC's Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) No. 104 (SAB 104) of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and ASC 605 Revenue Recognition. Under ASC 605, delivered items are separate units of accounting, provided (i) the delivered items have value to a collaborator on a stand-alone basis, and (ii) if the arrangement includes a general right of return relative to the delivered item, delivery or performance of the undelivered items is considered probable and substantially in our control. We recognize revenue for payments that are contingent upon performance solely by our collaborator immediately upon the achievement of the defined event if we have no related performance obligations. A separate update to ASC 605 provides guidance on the criteria that should be met when determining whether the milestone method of revenue recognition is appropriate.There have been no changes to our revenue recognition accounting policies in the third quarter of 2015. These policies are disclosed in Note 2 to the consolidated financial statements included in our 2014 Annual Report on Form 10-K.Under our 2012 license agreement with CytoDyn Inc. for PRO 140, we expect to receive a $1.5 million milestone payment as a result of CytoDyn announcing during October 2015 that it dosed the first patient in its Phase 3 clinical trial.During 2014, we have recognized as third quarter revenue a $40.0 million milestone from Salix upon U.S. marketing approval for subcutaneous RELISTOR in non-cancer pain patients. Under our 2012 agreement with FUJIFILM RI Pharma Co., Ltd. (Fuji) for the development of 1404 in Japan, we recognized as revenue a $1.0 million payment contingent on execution of the first contract by Fuji with an investigation site for a phase 1 trial in the first quarter of 2014. |

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No definition available.
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| - Definition
Disclosure of accounting policy for revenue recognition. If the entity has different policies for different types of revenue transactions, the policy for each material type of transaction is generally disclosed. If a sales transaction has multiple element arrangements (for example, delivery of multiple products, services or the rights to use assets) the disclosure may indicate the accounting policy for each unit of accounting as well as how units of accounting are determined and valued. The disclosure may encompass important judgment as to appropriateness of principles related to recognition of revenue. The disclosure also may indicate the entity's treatment of any unearned or deferred revenue that arises from the transaction.
+ References
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