The amount of goodwill arising from a business combination that is expected to be deductible for tax purposes.

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Interest rate used to find the present value of an amount to be paid or received in the future as an input to measure fair value. For example, but not limited to, weighted average cost of capital (WACC), cost of capital, cost of equity and cost of debt.

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Amount after accumulated impairment loss of an asset representing future economic benefits arising from other assets acquired in a business combination that are not individually identified and separately recognized.

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Amount of impairment loss resulting from write-down of assets, excluding financial assets and goodwill, lacking physical substance and having a projected indefinite period of benefit to fair value.

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The increase (decrease) during the reporting period in the account that represents the temporary difference that results from Income or Loss that is recognized for accounting purposes but not for tax purposes and vice versa.

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Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

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Amount of assets, excluding financial assets and goodwill, lacking physical substance and having a projected indefinite period of benefit.

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Carrying amount (original costs adjusted for previously recognized amortization and impairment) as of the balance sheet date of rights not otherwise specified in the taxonomy having a projected indefinite period of benefit.

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Asset Impairment Charges, Increase to Net Loss

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Asset Impairment Charges, Increase to Net Loss, Per Basic Share

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Variable Interest Entity, Consolidated, Carrying Amount, In-Process Research and Development Intangible Asset

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Intangible Assets and Goodwill (Details) - USD ($)	1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
Intangible Assets and Goodwill (Details) - USD ($)	Oct. 31, 2014	Dec. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014	Dec. 31, 2013	Jun. 04, 2015	Mar. 31, 2013
Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Intangible assets		$ 284,340,000	$ 29,000,000
Intangible asset impairment charges		0	0	$ 412,900,000
Goodwill		50,384,000	39,915,000
VX-222Asset
Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Fair value of intangible asset						$ 0
Intangible asset impairment charges				412,900,000
Increase in net loss related to impairment charge				$ 285,300,000
Net increase to the Company's net loss per share related to the impairment charge (usd per share)				$ 1.27
Research and Development Arrangement \| VX-222Asset
Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Intangible assets				$ 412,900,000
Change in deferred income taxes				$ 127,600,000
BioAxone Biosciences, Inc
Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
In-process research and development intangible assets			29,000,000
Parion Sciences, Inc
Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Intangible assets					$ 255,340,000
Goodwill					10,468,000
Goodwill acquired during period		10,500,000
Goodwill expected to be tax deductible		0
Variable Interest Entity, Primary Beneficiary
Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Intangible assets		284,340,000	29,000,000
Goodwill		19,391,000	8,923,000
Variable Interest Entity, Primary Beneficiary \| BioAxone Biosciences, Inc
Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
In-process research and development intangible assets			$ 29,000,000
Variable Interest Entity, Primary Beneficiary \| Parion Sciences, Inc
Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
In-process research and development intangible assets		$ 284,300,000
Intangible assets					$ 255,300,000
Indefinite-lived Intangible Assets \| Variable Interest Entity, Primary Beneficiary \| BioAxone Biosciences, Inc
Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Discount rate used to estimate fair value (percent)	7.50%
Indefinite-lived Intangible Assets \| Variable Interest Entity, Primary Beneficiary \| Parion Sciences, Inc
Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets [Line Items]
Discount rate used to estimate fair value (percent)	7.10%