Common stock - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $)	0 Months Ended		3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended				0 Months Ended		0 Months Ended
	May 08, 2014	Mar. 06, 2014 Directors	Jun. 30, 2014	Jun. 30, 2013	Jun. 30, 2014	Jun. 30, 2013	Jun. 30, 2014 Aquinox USA [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Aquinox USA [Member]	Jun. 30, 2014 Aquinox USA [Member] Biolipox AB [Member]	Jun. 30, 2014 Aquinox USA [Member] Biolipox AB [Member]	Mar. 06, 2014 Non-employee Directors [Member]	Jan. 27, 2014 Equity Incentive Plan 2006 [Member]	Jan. 27, 2014 Equity Incentive Plan 2014 [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Stock options granted	175,500										33,332	0
Maximum number of shares of common stock that may be issued													1,423,416
Common stock, shares outstanding													756,279
Shares of common stock reserved for issuance description					Additionally, the number of shares of common stock reserved for issuance under the 2014 Plan will automatically increase on January 1 of each year for a period of up to 10 years, beginning on January 1, 2015 and ending on and including January 1, 2024, by 4% of the total number of shares of capital outstanding on December 31 of the preceding calendar year, or a lesser number of shares determined by the board of directors.
Shares of common stock reserved for issuance percentage					4.00%
Years of increase in shares of common stock reserved for issuance					10 years
Exercise price per share of options granted to non-employee directors											$ 11.00
Number of non-employee directors		4
Exercise price per share	$ 10.10
Stock-based compensation expense			$ 214,822	$ 73,483	$ 352,476	$ 128,157
Unrecognized stock-based compensation cost			3,043,734		3,043,734
Unrecognized stock-based compensation cost, weighted-average period recognized					2 years 8 months 9 days
Common stock, shares authorized							50,000,000	139,266,037
Common stock, par value							$ 0.000001	$ 0.000001
Common stock, shares issued							10,695,022	301,745		19,762
Fair value of shares issued									$ 186,356
Common stock, shares outstanding							10,695,022	301,745