COLLABORATIVE ARRANGEMENTS (Details) (USD $)	3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended		3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended			3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended		3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended	3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended		3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended				6 Months Ended						6 Months Ended							0 Months Ended	6 Months Ended	0 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended		0 Months Ended	1 Months Ended		3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended		3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended			1 Months Ended				1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2013	Jun. 30, 2012	Jun. 30, 2013	Jun. 30, 2012	Jun. 30, 2013 GSK	Jun. 30, 2012 GSK	Jun. 30, 2013 GSK	Jun. 30, 2012 GSK	Jun. 30, 2012 Astellas	Jun. 30, 2013 Other	Jun. 30, 2013 Other	Jun. 30, 2013 MABA GSK	Jun. 30, 2013 Long-acting beta agonist (LABA) collaboration GSK	Jun. 30, 2013 Long-acting beta agonist (LABA) collaboration GSK Maximum	Jun. 30, 2013 Long-acting beta agonist (LABA) collaboration GSK Maximum Item	Jun. 30, 2013 Long-acting beta agonist (LABA) collaboration LABA collaboration GSK	Jun. 30, 2012 Long-acting beta agonist (LABA) collaboration LABA collaboration GSK	Jun. 30, 2013 Long-acting beta agonist (LABA) collaboration LABA collaboration GSK	Jun. 30, 2012 Long-acting beta agonist (LABA) collaboration LABA collaboration GSK	Jun. 30, 2013 2004 Strategic alliance MABA GSK	Jun. 30, 2012 2004 Strategic alliance MABA GSK	Jun. 30, 2013 2004 Strategic alliance MABA GSK	Jun. 30, 2012 2004 Strategic alliance MABA GSK	Jun. 30, 2013 2004 Strategic alliance MABA GSK Minimum Item	Jun. 30, 2013 2004 Strategic alliance MABA containing '081 GSK	Jun. 30, 2013 2004 Strategic alliance MABA containing '081 - single-agent GSK	Jun. 30, 2013 2004 Strategic alliance MABA containing '081 - single-agent GSK Maximum	Jun. 30, 2013 2004 Strategic alliance MABA containing '081 - single-agent GSK Minimum	Jun. 30, 2013 2004 Strategic alliance MABA containing '081 - combination product GSK	Oct. 31, 2011 2004 Strategic alliance MABA containing additional MABA GSK Item	Jun. 30, 2013 2004 Strategic alliance MABA containing additional MABA GSK Maximum	Jun. 30, 2013 2004 Strategic alliance MABA containing additional MABA - single-agent GSK	Jun. 30, 2013 2004 Strategic alliance MABA containing additional MABA - single-agent GSK Maximum	Jun. 30, 2013 2004 Strategic alliance MABA containing additional MABA - single-agent GSK Minimum	Jun. 30, 2013 2004 Strategic alliance MABA containing additional MABA - combination product GSK	Jun. 30, 2013 Common stock purchase agreement Common stock GSK	Jun. 30, 2013 Development and Commercialization Agreement R-Pharm CJSC	Oct. 31, 2012 Development and Commercialization Agreement R-Pharm CJSC Item	Oct. 31, 2012 Development and Commercialization Agreement VIBATIV R-Pharm CJSC	Jun. 30, 2013 Development and Commercialization Agreement VIBATIV R-Pharm CJSC Item	Oct. 31, 2012 Development and Commercialization Agreement TD-1792 R-Pharm CJSC	Jun. 30, 2013 Development and Commercialization Agreement TD-1792 R-Pharm CJSC	Jun. 30, 2013 Development and Commercialization Agreement TD-1792 R-Pharm CJSC	Jun. 30, 2013 Development and Collaboration Arrangement Velusetrag Alfa Wassermann	Jun. 30, 2013 Development and Collaboration Arrangement Velusetrag Alfa Wassermann	Oct. 31, 2012 Development and Collaboration Arrangement Velusetrag Alfa Wassermann	Oct. 31, 2012 Development and Collaboration Arrangement Velusetrag Alfa Wassermann Maximum	Nov. 30, 2012 Research Collaboration and License Agreement Novel small molecule therapeutics Merck Item	Oct. 31, 2012 Research Collaboration and License Agreement Novel small molecule therapeutics Merck	Jun. 30, 2013 Research Collaboration and License Agreement Novel small molecule therapeutics Merck	Jun. 30, 2013 Research Collaboration and License Agreement Novel small molecule therapeutics Merck	Oct. 31, 2012 Research Collaboration and License Agreement Novel small molecule therapeutics Merck Maximum	Mar. 31, 2013 Commercialization Agreement VIBATIV Clinigen	Jun. 30, 2013 Commercialization Agreement VIBATIV Clinigen Item	Jun. 30, 2013 Commercialization Agreement VIBATIV Clinigen Maximum	Jun. 30, 2013 Commercialization Agreement VIBATIV Clinigen Minimum	Jun. 30, 2013 Commercialization Agreement Telavancin Hikma Pharmaceuticals LLC	May 30, 2013 Commercialization Agreement Telavancin Hikma Pharmaceuticals LLC	May 31, 2013 Commercialization Agreement Telavancin Hikma Pharmaceuticals LLC Item	Jun. 30, 2013 Commercialization Agreement Telavancin Hikma Pharmaceuticals LLC Maximum	Jan. 31, 2012 License, Development and Commercialization Agreement With Astellas VIBATIV Astellas	Mar. 31, 2012 License, Development and Commercialization Agreement With Astellas VIBATIV Astellas	Nov. 30, 2005 License, Development and Commercialization Agreement With Astellas VIBATIV Astellas
Information related to collaborative arrangements
Revenue from collaborative arrangements	$ 1,327,000	$ 1,430,000	$ 2,671,000	$ 128,529,000	$ 1,322,000	$ 1,430,000	$ 2,644,000	$ 2,860,000	$ 125,669,000	$ 5,000	$ 27,000
Registrational milestone fee paid													30,000,000
Obligation for milestone payments to GSK														190,000,000	190,000,000
Portion of potential milestone payments that could be payable within the next six months														110,000,000	110,000,000
Potential future contingent payments receivable												363,000,000																			129,000,000						10,000,000										53,500,000					148,000,000								500,000
Number of development and commercialization agreements																																						2
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%
Agreement term																																																	1 year							15 years		15 years
Period of advance notice to terminate the agreement																																																						12 months
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%
Non-refundable, cash payments																																																															191,000,000
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 contingent payments that the Company could receive																										125,000,000
Potential contingent payments that the Company could receive in respect to single-agent and combination medicines																									250,000,000
Company's stock purchased by related party (in shares)																																				310,090
Company's stock purchased by related party																																				9,300,000
Term of royalty payment																																																													10 years
Net revenue recognized under the collaboration
Revenues					1,322,000	1,430,000	2,644,000	2,860,000								907,000	907,000	1,814,000	1,814,000	415,000	523,000	830,000	1,046,000																											5,000	10,000											125,800,000
Upfront payment received allocated to license																																								1,000,000			900,000					4,400,000					4,900,000
Upfront payment received allocated to research services																																																400,000
Upfront payment received allocated to committee participation																																								33,000			100,000					200,000					100,000
Research reimbursement recognized as a reduction of research and development expense					165,000	31,000	337,000	77,000																																		50,000	86,000	200,000	500,000					1,800,000	3,300,000
Upfront payment																																								1,100,000			1,100,000					5,000,000					5,000,000				500,000
Option fee funding amount																																														$ 10,000,000
Royalty rate for combination products														10.00%
Royalty rate, as a percentage of net sales																																							25.00%		15.00%						20.00%								30.00%	20.00%
Number of units of accounting based on the relative selling price method																																								2								3						2
Number of countries across MENA in which commercialization rights were granted																																																											16