Nature of Business and Accounting Policies - Impact of Adopted to the Condensed Consolidated Statement of Operations (Details) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended								12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2019	Sep. 30, 2019	Jun. 30, 2019	Mar. 31, 2019	Dec. 31, 2018	Sep. 30, 2018	Jun. 30, 2018	Mar. 31, 2018	Dec. 31, 2019	Dec. 31, 2018	Dec. 31, 2017	Jan. 01, 2019	Jan. 01, 2018	Jan. 01, 2017
Revenue, Initial Application Period Cumulative Effect Transition [Line Items]
Cumulative effect adjustment for adoption of new accounting guidance												$ (40,310)	$ 9,229	$ 0
Product revenues, net	$ 1,413,265	$ 949,828	$ 941,293	$ 858,435	$ 870,106	$ 784,535	$ 752,157	$ 640,799	$ 4,162,821	$ 3,047,597	$ 2,488,652
Cost of sales	185,012	131,914	135,740	95,092	122,289	111,255	104,382	71,613	547,758	409,539	275,119
Income from operations	551,465	99,333	269,960	276,808	127,722	205,649	172,878	128,901	1,197,566	635,150	123,243
Net income attributable to Vertex common shareholders	$ 583,234	$ 57,518	$ 267,427	$ 268,631	$ 1,550,527	$ 128,746	$ 207,360	$ 210,263	$ 1,176,810	$ 2,096,896	$ 263,484
Net income:
Basic (usd per share)	$ 2.26	$ 0.22	$ 1.04	$ 1.05	$ 6.08	$ 0.51	$ 0.82	$ 0.83	$ 4.58	$ 8.24	$ 1.06
Diluted (usd per share)	$ 2.23	$ 0.22	$ 1.03	$ 1.03	$ 5.97	$ 0.50	$ 0.80	$ 0.81	$ 4.51	$ 8.09	$ 1.04
Product
Revenue, Initial Application Period Cumulative Effect Transition [Line Items]
Product revenues, net	$ 1,413,265	$ 949,828	$ 940,380	$ 857,253	$ 868,173	$ 782,511	$ 749,912	$ 637,729	$ 4,160,726	$ 3,038,325	$ 2,165,480
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 attributable to Vertex common shareholders										$ 2,084,669
Net income:
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 attributable to Vertex common shareholders										$ 12,227
Net income:
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
Accumulated Deficit
Revenue, Initial Application Period Cumulative Effect Transition [Line Items]
Cumulative effect adjustment for adoption of new accounting guidance												$ (40,310)	33,349	$ (9,371)
Accumulated Deficit | Accounting Standards Update 2014-09
Revenue, Initial Application Period Cumulative Effect Transition [Line Items]
Cumulative effect adjustment for adoption of new accounting guidance													$ 8,300