Buildings and Land for Sale

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Property, Plant and Equipment Impairment or Disposal [Abstract]

Real Estate Disclosure [Text Block]

Buildings and Land Held and Used

In 2014, Lexicon reclassified its buildings and land in The Woodlands, Texas to assets held for sale on its consolidated balance sheet, as it intended to sell these assets. In the fourth quarter of 2015, Lexicon made a change to its plan of sale and reclassified its buildings and land as assets held and used in accordance with the accounting guidance regarding selling assets with a leaseback requirement. The Company estimated the fair value of the net assets to be sold at approximately $20.3 million and $23.8 million as of December 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively, which represented estimated selling price less costs to sell. This resulted in an impairment loss on the buildings of $3.6 million and $13.1 million in the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively, which were recorded in impairment loss on buildings in the accompanying consolidated statements of comprehensive loss. The fair value of the net assets to be sold was determined using Level 2 inputs using sales prices in similar real estate sales and offers received from potential purchasers of the building. Lexicon intends to explore strategic alternatives with respect to its strategy to reduce facilities costs, including the potential sale of the facilities to a third party. Due to the likelihood that any sale will require a leaseback of a portion of the property, the buildings and land remain classified as assets held and used as of December 31, 2016.

When events or changes in circumstances indicate the carrying amount of property and equity and intangible or other long-lived assets related to specifically acquired assets may not be recoverable, an evaluation of the recoverability of currently recorded costs is performed. When an evaluation is performed, the estimated value of undiscounted future net cash flows associated with the asset is compared to the assets carrying value to determine whether a write-down to fair value is required. If such assets are considered to be impaired, the impairment to be recognized is measured by the amount by which the carrying amount of the assets exceeds the fair value of the assets. The Company did not recognize any impairment of long-lived assets in the year ended December 31, 2016.