Fair Value of Financial Assets - Additional Information (Detail) - USD ($)	9 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2018	Dec. 31, 2017
Fair Value Disclosures [Abstract]
Available-for-sale investments, maximum contractual maturity period	1 year
Fair value, assets transfers from Level 1 to Level 2	$ 0	$ 0
Fair value, assets transfers from Level 2 to Level 1	0	0
Fair Value, assets transfers into (out of) Level 3	$ 0	$ 0

Available-for-sale investments, maximum contractual maturity period.

No definition available.

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Namespace Prefix:	alrn_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of transfers of assets measured on a recurring basis out of Level 1 of the fair value hierarchy into Level 2.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 820
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (bb)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=99377789&loc=d3e19207-110258

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of transfers of assets measured on a recurring basis out of Level 2 of the fair value hierarchy into Level 1.

+ References

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_FairValueDisclosuresAbstract
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
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Balance Type:	na
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- Definition

Amount of transfer of financial instrument classified as an asset into (out of) level 3 of the fair value hierarchy.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration