Description of Business	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2015
Organization Consolidation And Presentation Of Financial Statements [Abstract]
Description of Business	NOTE 1. DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS Medivation, Inc. (the “Company” or “Medivation”) is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of medically innovative therapies to treat serious diseases for which there are limited treatment options. It has one commercial product, XTANDI® (enzalutamide) capsules, or XTANDI, through the Company’s collaboration with Astellas Pharma, Inc., or Astellas. XTANDI has received marketing approval in the United States, Europe and numerous other countries worldwide for the treatment of patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, or mCRPC, and in Japan for the treatment of patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer, or CRPC. The Company and Astellas are also conducting investigational studies of enzalutamide in prostate cancer, advanced breast cancer, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Under the Company’s collaboration agreement with Astellas, it shares equally with Astellas all profits (losses) related to U.S. net sales of XTANDI. The Company also receives royalties ranging from the low teens to the low twenties as a percentage of ex-U.S. XTANDI net sales. The collaboration also involved certain milestone payments from Astellas to the Company upon the achievement of defined development, regulatory and sales events, all of which have been achieved as of December 31, 2015. The Company seeks to become a more fully-integrated biopharmaceutical company through the continued commercialization of XTANDI, the acquisition or in-license and development and commercialization of other product opportunities, and through the advancement of its own proprietary research and development programs. The Company expects that its future growth may come from both internal research efforts and third-party business development activities. In the fourth quarter of 2015, the Company acquired all worldwide rights to talazoparib (which is referred to as MDV3800), an orally available poly-ADP ribose polymerase, or PARP, inhibitor from BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc., or BioMarin. MDV3800 is currently in a Phase 3 clinical trial for the treatment of patients with germline BRCA, or gBRCA, mutated advanced breast cancer (i.e., advanced breast cancer in patients whose BRCA genes contain germline mutations). The Company is targeting a number of other indications in which to investigate MDV3800, including breast cancer (beyond gBRCA mutations), prostate cancer, small cell lung cancer, and ovarian cancer. In the fourth quarter of 2014, the Company licensed exclusive worldwide rights to pidilizumab (which is referred to as MDV9300), an antibody with immune-mediated anti-tumor effects for all potential indications from CureTech, Ltd., or CureTech. Under the license agreement, the Company is responsible for all development, regulatory, manufacturing, and commercialization activities for MDV9300. The Company initiated a Phase 2 clinical trial evaluating MDV9300 in patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in the fourth quarter of 2015, which is on partial clinical hold pending its revision of certain investigator brochure, protocols and informed consent documents. The Company submitted the revised documents to the FDA in early February 2016 and the FDA has 30 days thereafter to notify the Company if the partial hold is lifted. The Company also plans to develop MDV9300 in other hematologic malignancies such as multiple myeloma. In addition to the above activities, the Company has various internal research and discovery efforts focused in oncology, neurology and other areas.

NOTE 1. DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS

Medivation, Inc. (the “Company” or “Medivation”) is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of medically innovative therapies to treat serious diseases for which there are limited treatment options. It has one commercial product, XTANDI® (enzalutamide) capsules, or XTANDI, through the Company’s collaboration with Astellas Pharma, Inc., or Astellas. XTANDI has received marketing approval in the United States, Europe and numerous other countries worldwide for the treatment of patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, or mCRPC, and in Japan for the treatment of patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer, or CRPC. The Company and Astellas are also conducting investigational studies of enzalutamide in prostate cancer, advanced breast cancer, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Under the Company’s collaboration agreement with Astellas, it shares equally with Astellas all profits (losses) related to U.S. net sales of XTANDI. The Company also receives royalties ranging from the low teens to the low twenties as a percentage of ex-U.S. XTANDI net sales. The collaboration also involved certain milestone payments from Astellas to the Company upon the achievement of defined development, regulatory and sales events, all of which have been achieved as of December 31, 2015.

The Company seeks to become a more fully-integrated biopharmaceutical company through the continued commercialization of XTANDI, the acquisition or in-license and development and commercialization of other product opportunities, and through the advancement of its own proprietary research and development programs. The Company expects that its future growth may come from both internal research efforts and third-party business development activities. In the fourth quarter of 2015, the Company acquired all worldwide rights to talazoparib (which is referred to as MDV3800), an orally available poly-ADP ribose polymerase, or PARP, inhibitor from BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc., or BioMarin. MDV3800 is currently in a Phase 3 clinical trial for the treatment of patients with germline BRCA, or gBRCA, mutated advanced breast cancer (i.e., advanced breast cancer in patients whose BRCA genes contain germline mutations). The Company is targeting a number of other indications in which to investigate MDV3800, including breast cancer (beyond gBRCA mutations), prostate cancer, small cell lung cancer, and ovarian cancer. In the fourth quarter of 2014, the Company licensed exclusive worldwide rights to pidilizumab (which is referred to as MDV9300), an antibody with immune-mediated anti-tumor effects for all potential indications from CureTech, Ltd., or CureTech. Under the license agreement, the Company is responsible for all development, regulatory, manufacturing, and commercialization activities for MDV9300. The Company initiated a Phase 2 clinical trial evaluating MDV9300 in patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in the fourth quarter of 2015, which is on partial clinical hold pending its revision of certain investigator brochure, protocols and informed consent documents. The Company submitted the revised documents to the FDA in early February 2016 and the FDA has 30 days thereafter to notify the Company if the partial hold is lifted. The Company also plans to develop MDV9300 in other hematologic malignancies such as multiple myeloma.

In addition to the above activities, the Company has various internal research and discovery efforts focused in oncology, neurology and other areas.