Collaboration Arrangements (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended						1 Months Ended			12 Months Ended			12 Months Ended								12 Months Ended						12 Months Ended						1 Months Ended							0 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended			0 Months Ended	1 Months Ended		12 Months Ended		0 Months Ended		0 Months Ended		1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2012 GSK	Dec. 31, 2011 GSK	Dec. 31, 2010 GSK	Jul. 31, 2011 Class A common stock GSK	Dec. 31, 2012 MABA GSK	Dec. 31, 2012 VIBATIV Astellas	Dec. 31, 2012 VIBATIV Astellas Maximum	Dec. 31, 2012 Long-acting beta agonist (LABA) collaboration GSK Item	Dec. 31, 2012 Long-acting beta agonist (LABA) collaboration GSK Maximum	Dec. 31, 2012 Long-acting beta agonist (LABA) collaboration LABA collaboration GSK	Dec. 31, 2011 Long-acting beta agonist (LABA) collaboration LABA collaboration GSK	Dec. 31, 2010 Long-acting beta agonist (LABA) collaboration LABA collaboration GSK	Dec. 31, 2012 Long-acting beta agonist (LABA) collaboration Other products combined with LABA GSK Maximum	Dec. 31, 2012 2004 Strategic alliance MABA GSK Item	Dec. 31, 2011 2004 Strategic alliance MABA GSK	Dec. 31, 2010 2004 Strategic alliance MABA GSK	Dec. 31, 2012 2004 Strategic alliance MABA containing '081 GSK	Dec. 31, 2012 2004 Strategic alliance MABA containing '081 - single-agent GSK	Dec. 31, 2012 2004 Strategic alliance MABA containing '081 - single-agent GSK Maximum	Dec. 31, 2012 2004 Strategic alliance MABA containing '081 - single-agent GSK Minimum	Dec. 31, 2012 2004 Strategic alliance MABA containing '081 - combination product GSK	Dec. 31, 2012 2004 Strategic alliance MABA containing additional MABA GSK Item	Dec. 31, 2012 2004 Strategic alliance MABA containing additional MABA GSK Maximum	Dec. 31, 2012 2004 Strategic alliance MABA containing additional MABA - single-agent GSK	Dec. 31, 2012 2004 Strategic alliance MABA containing additional MABA - single-agent GSK Maximum	Dec. 31, 2012 2004 Strategic alliance MABA containing additional MABA - single-agent GSK Minimum	Dec. 31, 2012 2004 Strategic alliance MABA containing additional MABA - combination product GSK	Dec. 31, 2011 2004 Strategic alliance Non-license specific GSK	Dec. 31, 2010 2004 Strategic alliance Non-license specific GSK	Nov. 30, 2012 Governance agreement Common stock GSK	Aug. 31, 2012 Governance agreement Common stock GSK	Feb. 29, 2012 Governance agreement Common stock GSK	Nov. 30, 2011 Governance agreement Common stock GSK	Aug. 31, 2011 Governance agreement Common stock GSK	May 31, 2011 Governance agreement Common stock GSK	Feb. 28, 2011 Governance agreement Common stock GSK	May 16, 2012 Common stock purchase agreement Common stock GSK	May 31, 2012 Common stock purchase agreement Common stock GSK	Dec. 31, 2012 License, Development and Commercialization Agreement With Astellas VIBATIV Astellas	Dec. 31, 2011 License, Development and Commercialization Agreement With Astellas VIBATIV Astellas	Dec. 31, 2010 License, Development and Commercialization Agreement With Astellas VIBATIV Astellas	Oct. 31, 2012 Development and Commercialization Agreement R-Pharm CJSC Item	Nov. 30, 2012 Development and Commercialization Agreement R-Pharm CJSC	Dec. 31, 2012 Development and Commercialization Agreement R-Pharm CJSC	Dec. 31, 2012 Development and Commercialization Agreement Velusetrag (or TD-5108) Alfa Wassermann	Oct. 01, 2012 Development and Commercialization Agreement Velusetrag (or TD-5108) Alfa Wassermann	Oct. 03, 2012 Development and Commercialization Agreement Velusetrag (or TD-5108) Alfa Wassermann Maximum	Oct. 01, 2012 Development and Commercialization Agreement Velusetrag (or TD-5108) Alfa Wassermann Maximum	Oct. 31, 2012 Development and Commercialization Agreement TD-1792 R-Pharm CJSC	Oct. 31, 2012 Development and Commercialization Agreement Telavancin R-Pharm CJSC	Nov. 30, 2012 Research Collaboration and License Agreement Novel small molecule therapeutics Merck Item	Dec. 31, 2012 Research Collaboration and License Agreement Novel small molecule therapeutics Merck	Oct. 31, 2012 Research Collaboration and License Agreement Novel small molecule therapeutics Merck Maximum
Information related to collaboration arrangements
Obligation for milestone payments to GSK												$ 220,000,000
Portion of potential milestone payments payable by end of 2014												140,000,000
Number of combination products											2
Royalty rate for first level of annual global net sales (as a percent)													15.00%									20.00%	10.00%					15.00%	10.00%
Royalty rate for combination products as a percentage of the rate applied to single products																								70.00%						50.00%
Royalty rate for sales above first level of annual global net sales (as a percent)													5.00%								7.50%						10.00%
Percentage of royalties payable to Astellas																																										2.00%
Amount of purchase agreements for pharmaceutical ingredient and raw materials										7,700,000
Amount of finished goods inventories										4,200,000
Amount recognized in governmental rebate and governmental chargeback claims																																										31,000
Purchases of active pharmaceutical ingredient and other raw materials									5,800,000
Annual global sales level used to determine royalty rate													3,000,000,000								3,500,000,000			3,500,000,000
Number of products which Company is obligated to use diligent efforts to discover after license of a program																									6
Number of combination products to be developed and commercialized																	1
Potential upfront license and milestone payments that Company could receive																					125,000,000
Potential upfront license and milestone payments that Company could receive in respect of combination medicines																				250,000,000
Potential milestone payments that Company could receive																										129,000,000
Company's stock purchased by related party (in shares)																																	280,348	316,334	88,468	58,411	102,466	261,299	152,278		10,000,000
Company's stock purchased by related party, price (in dollars per share)																																								$ 21.2887
Company's stock purchased by related party	229,296,000	13,618,000	129,190,000																														6,266,000	8,924,000	1,603,000	1,298,000	2,020,000	6,689,000	3,609,000	212,900,000
Number of shares of common stock converted							9,401,499
Conversion ratio							1
Term of royalty payment																																										10 years
Information related to collaboration arrangements
Upfront license, milestone and other fees received																																										191,000,000
Net revenue recognized under the collaboration
Revenue	135,758,000	24,512,000	24,223,000	5,613,000	9,658,000	9,826,000							3,629,000	4,718,000	5,081,000		1,984,000	3,082,000	2,007,000												1,858,000	2,738,000										125,788,000	14,854,000	14,397,000
Recognition of remaining deferred revenue																																										125,819,000
Amortization of deferred revenue																																											12,975,000	12,975,000
Royalties from net sales of VIBATIV																																											2,422,000	1,123,000
Proceeds from VIBATIV delivered to Astellas																																											1,171,000	2,058,000
Cost of VIBATIV delivered to Astellas																																											(1,177,000)	(938,000)
Cost of unrealizable VIBATIV inventories																																											(537,000)	(821,000)
Astellas-labeled product sales allowance																																										(31,000)
Deferred revenue, non-current	6,014,000	122,017,000																																																					200,000
Accounts payable	5,377,000	5,813,000
Increase in net loss due to revised estimated performance period														400,000			100,000	200,000	1,000,000
Upfront payment received allocated to license																																																						4,400,000
Upfront payment received allocated to research services																																																						400,000
Upfront payment received allocated to committee participation																																																						200,000
Deferred revenue, current	4,593,000	18,697,000																																													1,100,000								19,000
Deferred revenue, non-current	6,014,000	122,017,000																																																					200,000
Research reimbursement recognized as a reduction of research and development expense				200,000	400,000	400,000																																					400,000	300,000				200,000							800,000
Arrangement consideration, upfront license payment received																																																						5,000,000
Option fee funding amount																																																	10,000,000
Potential development, regulatory and sales milestone payments eligible to receive																																																			53,500,000
Royalty rate, as a percentage of net sales																10.00%																																		20.00%		15.00%	25.00%
Potential future payments to be received																																																								148,000,000
Number of units of accounting based on the relative selling price method																																																						3
Number of separate development and commercialization agreements																																													2
Arrangement consideration, license and maintenance fees received																																														1,100,000
Potential additional near-term licensing fees																																													1,000,000
Potential future contingent payments that may be received								$ 102,000,000																																					$ 10,000,000
Option right exercise period																																																2 years