Nature of Business and Accounting Policies - Impact of Adopted to the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet (Details) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended								12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2018	Sep. 30, 2018	Jun. 30, 2018	Mar. 31, 2018	Dec. 31, 2017	Sep. 30, 2017	Jun. 30, 2017	Mar. 31, 2017	Dec. 31, 2018	Dec. 31, 2017	Dec. 31, 2016
Revenue, Initial Application Period Cumulative Effect Transition [Line Items]
Product revenues, net	$ 870,106	$ 784,535	$ 752,157	$ 640,799	$ 651,634	$ 578,165	$ 544,135	$ 714,718	$ 3,047,597	$ 2,488,652	$ 1,702,177
Cost of sales	122,289	111,255	104,382	71,613	84,052	72,874	71,205	46,988	409,539	275,119	210,460
Income from operations	127,722	205,649	172,878	128,901	125,737	(326,043)	52,707	270,842	635,150	123,243	9,936
Net income (loss) attributable to Vertex	$ 1,550,527	$ 128,746	$ 207,360	$ 210,263	$ 100,684	$ (102,952)	$ 17,996	$ 247,756	$ 2,096,896	$ 263,484	$ (112,052)
Basic (usd per share)	$ 6.08	$ 0.51	$ 0.82	$ 0.83	$ 0.40	$ (0.41)	$ 0.07	$ 1.01	$ 8.24	$ 1.06	$ (0.46)
Diluted (usd per share)	$ 5.97	$ 0.50	$ 0.80	$ 0.81	$ 0.39	$ (0.41)	$ 0.07	$ 0.99	$ 8.09	$ 1.04	$ (0.46)
Product
Revenue, Initial Application Period Cumulative Effect Transition [Line Items]
Product revenues, net	$ 868,173	$ 782,511	$ 749,912	$ 637,729	$ 621,228	$ 549,642	$ 513,988	$ 480,622	$ 3,038,325	$ 2,165,480	$ 1,683,632
Balances without Adoption of ASC 606
Revenue, Initial Application Period Cumulative Effect Transition [Line Items]
Cost of sales									402,925
Income from operations									622,923
Net income (loss) attributable to Vertex									$ 2,084,669
Basic (usd per share)									$ 8.20
Diluted (usd per share)									$ 8.04
Balances without Adoption of ASC 606 | Product
Revenue, Initial Application Period Cumulative Effect Transition [Line Items]
Product revenues, net									$ 3,019,484
Effect of Change Higher/(Lower) | Accounting Standards Update 2014-09
Revenue, Initial Application Period Cumulative Effect Transition [Line Items]
Cost of sales									6,614
Income from operations									12,227
Net income (loss) attributable to Vertex									$ 12,227
Basic (usd per share)									$ 0.04
Diluted (usd per share)									$ 0.05
Effect of Change Higher/(Lower) | Accounting Standards Update 2014-09 | Product
Revenue, Initial Application Period Cumulative Effect Transition [Line Items]
Product revenues, net									$ 18,841