Nature of Organization and Operations	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2019
Accounting Policies [Abstract]
Nature of Organization and Operations	1. Nature of Organization and Operations Akebia Therapeutics, Inc., referred to as Akebia or the Company, was incorporated in the State of Delaware in 2007. Akebia is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of therapeutics for patients with kidney disease. Akebia’s commercial product, Auryxia^® (ferric citrate) is currently approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, and marketed for two indications in the United States, or the U.S., the control of serum phosphorus levels in adult patients with chronic kidney disease, or CKD, on dialysis, or DD-CKD, and the treatment of iron deficiency anemia, or IDA, in adult patients with CKD not on dialysis, or NDD-CKD. Ferric citrate is also approved and marketed in Japan as an oral treatment for the improvement of hyperphosphatemia in patients with DD-CKD and NDD-CKD under the trade name Riona^® (ferric citrate hydrate) and is approved, but not currently marketed, in the European Union as an oral treatment for the control of hyperphosphatemia in adult patients with DD-CKD and NDD-CKD under the trade name Fexeric^®(ferric citrate). The Company’s lead investigational product candidate, vadadustat, is an oral therapy in Phase 3 development for two indications: anemia due to CKD in adult patients with DD-CKD and anemia due to CKD in adult patients with NDD-CKD. The Company believes vadadustat has the potential to set a new standard of care in the treatment of anemia due to CKD, acting via a novel hypoxia inducible factor, or HIF, pathway. HIF is the primary regulator of the production of red blood cells, or RBCs, in the body, as well as other important metabolic functions. On December 12, 2018, the Company completed a merger with Keryx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc., or Keryx, or the Merger. Pursuant to the terms and conditions of the Agreement and Plan of Merger, or the Merger Agreement, each share of Keryx common stock, or Keryx Share, issued and outstanding immediately prior to the effective time of the Merger, or the Effective Time, was cancelled and converted into 0.37433, or the Exchange Multiplier, fully paid and non-assessable shares of Akebia common stock, or Akebia Shares, resulting in the issuance of an aggregate of 59,270,410 Akebia Shares. The Merger Agreement also provided that at the Effective Time, each Keryx restricted share award, to the extent outstanding, other than those Keryx restricted share awards that accelerated or lapsed as a result of the completion of the Merger, converted into an Akebia restricted stock unit, or RSU, award covering the number of Akebia Shares determined in accordance with the Exchange Multiplier, resulting in the issuance of Akebia RSUs covering an aggregate of 602,752 Akebia Shares. In addition, each outstanding and unexercised option to acquire Keryx Shares converted into an option to acquire Akebia Shares, with the number of shares and exercise price adjusted by the Exchange Multiplier, resulting in the assumption by Akebia of options to acquire an aggregate 3,967,290 Akebia Shares. Since inception, the Company has devoted most of its resources to research and development, including its preclinical and clinical development activities, raising capital, and providing general and administrative support for these operations. The Company began recording revenue from the U.S. sales of Auryxia and revenue from sublicensing rights to Auryxia in Japan to the Company’s Japanese partners Japan Tobacco, Inc. and its subsidiary Torii Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., collectively, JT and Torii, on December 12, 2018. The Company has not generated a profit to date and may never generate profits from product sales. The Company’s product candidates are subject to long development cycles, and the Company may be unsuccessful in its efforts to develop, obtain marketing approval for or market its product candidates. Management of the Company completed its going concern assessment in accordance with ASC 205-40. The Company believes that its cash resources will be sufficient to allow the Company to fund its current operating plans through at least the next twelve months from the filing of the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended March 31, 2019, as required by ASC 205-40. There can be no assurance, however, that the current operating plan will be achieved in the time frame anticipated by the Company, or that its cash resources will fund the Company’s operating plan for the period anticipated by the Company or that additional funding will be available on terms acceptable to the Company, or at all. The Company will require additional capital for the further commercialization of Auryxia and continued development and potential commercialization of the Company’s existing product candidates and would need to raise additional funds to pursue development activities related to any additional product candidates. If and until the Company can generate a sufficient amount of product revenue, the Company expects to finance future cash needs through public or private equity or debt offerings, payments from its collaborators, strategic transactions, or a combination of these approaches.

Nature of Organization and Operations

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2019

1. Nature of Organization and Operations

Akebia Therapeutics, Inc., referred to as Akebia or the Company, was incorporated in the State of Delaware in 2007. Akebia is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of therapeutics for patients with kidney disease. Akebia’s commercial product, Auryxia^® (ferric citrate) is currently approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, and marketed for two indications in the United States, or the U.S., the control of serum phosphorus levels in adult patients with chronic kidney disease, or CKD, on dialysis, or DD-CKD, and the treatment of iron deficiency anemia, or IDA, in adult patients with CKD not on dialysis, or NDD-CKD. Ferric citrate is also approved and marketed in Japan as an oral treatment for the improvement of hyperphosphatemia in patients with DD-CKD and NDD-CKD under the trade name Riona^® (ferric citrate hydrate) and is approved, but not currently marketed, in the European Union as an oral treatment for the control of hyperphosphatemia in adult patients with DD-CKD and NDD-CKD under the trade name Fexeric^®(ferric citrate). The Company’s lead investigational product candidate, vadadustat, is an oral therapy in Phase 3 development for two indications: anemia due to CKD in adult patients with DD-CKD and anemia due to CKD in adult patients with NDD-CKD. The Company believes vadadustat has the potential to set a new standard of care in the treatment of anemia due to CKD, acting via a novel hypoxia inducible factor, or HIF, pathway. HIF is the primary regulator of the production of red blood cells, or RBCs, in the body, as well as other important metabolic functions.

On December 12, 2018, the Company completed a merger with Keryx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc., or Keryx, or the Merger. Pursuant to the terms and conditions of the Agreement and Plan of Merger, or the Merger Agreement, each share of Keryx common stock, or Keryx Share, issued and outstanding immediately prior to the effective time of the Merger, or the Effective Time, was cancelled and converted into 0.37433, or the Exchange Multiplier, fully paid and non-assessable shares of Akebia common stock, or Akebia Shares, resulting in the issuance of an aggregate of 59,270,410 Akebia Shares. The Merger Agreement also provided that at the Effective Time, each Keryx restricted share award, to the extent outstanding, other than those Keryx restricted share awards that accelerated or lapsed as a result of the completion of the Merger, converted into an Akebia restricted stock unit, or RSU, award covering the number of Akebia Shares determined in accordance with the Exchange Multiplier, resulting in the issuance of Akebia RSUs covering an aggregate of 602,752 Akebia Shares. In addition, each outstanding and unexercised option to acquire Keryx Shares converted into an option to acquire Akebia Shares, with the number of shares and exercise price adjusted by the Exchange Multiplier, resulting in the assumption by Akebia of options to acquire an aggregate 3,967,290 Akebia Shares.

Since inception, the Company has devoted most of its resources to research and development, including its preclinical and clinical development activities, raising capital, and providing general and administrative support for these operations. The Company began recording revenue from the U.S. sales of Auryxia and revenue from sublicensing rights to Auryxia in Japan to the Company’s Japanese partners Japan Tobacco, Inc. and its subsidiary Torii Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., collectively, JT and Torii, on December 12, 2018. The Company has not generated a profit to date and may never generate profits from product sales. The Company’s product candidates are subject to long development cycles, and the Company may be unsuccessful in its efforts to develop, obtain marketing approval for or market its product candidates.

Management of the Company completed its going concern assessment in accordance with ASC 205-40. The Company believes that its cash resources will be sufficient to allow the Company to fund its current operating plans through at least the next twelve months from the filing of the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended March 31, 2019, as required by ASC 205-40. There can be no assurance, however, that the current operating plan will be achieved in the time frame anticipated by the Company, or that its cash resources will fund the Company’s operating plan for the period anticipated by the Company or that additional funding will be available on terms acceptable to the Company, or at all.

The Company will require additional capital for the further commercialization of Auryxia and continued development and potential commercialization of the Company’s existing product candidates and would need to raise additional funds to pursue development activities related to any additional product candidates. If and until the Company can generate a sufficient amount of product revenue, the Company expects to finance future cash needs through public or private equity or debt offerings, payments from its collaborators, strategic transactions, or a combination of these approaches.