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Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Schedule of Revenue by Major Customers) (Details)
 3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2015
Mar. 31, 2014
Genentech [Member] | Avastin [Member]    
Entity Wide Revenue Major Customer [Line Items]    
Percentage of total revenue (in Percent) 26.00%us-gaap_ConcentrationRiskPercentage1
/ us-gaap_MajorCustomersAxis
= pdli_GenentechMember
/ us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis
= pdli_AvastinMember		 30.00%us-gaap_ConcentrationRiskPercentage1
/ us-gaap_MajorCustomersAxis
= pdli_GenentechMember
/ us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis
= pdli_AvastinMember
Genentech [Member] | Herceptin [Member]    
Entity Wide Revenue Major Customer [Line Items]    
Percentage of total revenue (in Percent) 25.00%us-gaap_ConcentrationRiskPercentage1
/ us-gaap_MajorCustomersAxis
= pdli_GenentechMember
/ us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis
= pdli_HerceptinMember		 28.00%us-gaap_ConcentrationRiskPercentage1
/ us-gaap_MajorCustomersAxis
= pdli_GenentechMember
/ us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis
= pdli_HerceptinMember
Elan [Member] | Tysabri [Member]    
Entity Wide Revenue Major Customer [Line Items]    
Percentage of total revenue (in Percent) 10.00%us-gaap_ConcentrationRiskPercentage1
/ us-gaap_MajorCustomersAxis
= pdli_ElanMember
/ us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis
= pdli_TysabriMember		 9.00%us-gaap_ConcentrationRiskPercentage1
/ us-gaap_MajorCustomersAxis
= pdli_ElanMember
/ us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis
= pdli_TysabriMember