Business	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2016
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]
Business	Business Nature of Business Unless the context requires otherwise, references to “ARIAD,” “Company,” “we,” “our,” and “us,” in this quarterly report refer to ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and its subsidiaries. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, ARIAD is focused on discovering, developing and commercializing precision therapies for patients with rare cancers. ARIAD is working on new medicines to advance the treatment of rare forms of chronic and acute leukemia, lung cancer and other rare cancers. The Company has one approved cancer medicine, Iclusig® (ponatinib), for the treatment of certain patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (“CML”) and Philadelphia chromosome positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (“Ph+ ALL”). The Company sells Iclusig directly in the United States and has partnered with third parties to commercialize Iclusig in selected territories throughout the rest of the world, including Europe, Japan and the Far East, Canada, Australia, Latin America, Israel and the Middle East and North Africa. The Company is also developing Iclusig in earlier lines of therapy and for additional cancer indications. In addition to Iclusig, the Company is developing two product candidates for the treatment of certain rare forms of lung cancer. Brigatinib is the Company’s next most advanced drug candidate, which it is developing for the treatment of certain patients with a form of non-small cell lung cancer, or NSCLC. The Company has completed enrollment in a pivotal Phase 2 clinical trial of brigatinib and submitted a new drug application, or NDA, in the United States for the treatment of patients with anaplastic lymphoma kinase, or ALK, positive NSCLC who are resistant to the drug crizotinib. The Company is also studying brigatinib in a Phase 3 clinical trial as a potential first-line therapy. AP32788 is the Company’s most recently discovered drug candidate, and is being developed for the treatment of patients with NSCLC with specific mutations in the EGFR or HER2 kinases. The Company is currently studying AP32788 in a Phase 1/2 clinical trial. In addition to its clinical development programs, the Company has a focused drug discovery program centered on small-molecule therapies that are molecularly targeted to cell-signaling pathways implicated in cancer, and is also exploring potential new opportunities in immuno-oncology using our expertise in kinase inhibitors.

Business

Nature of Business

Unless the context requires otherwise, references to “ARIAD,” “Company,” “we,” “our,” and “us,” in this quarterly report refer to ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and its subsidiaries.

Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, ARIAD is focused on discovering, developing and commercializing precision therapies for patients with rare cancers. ARIAD is working on new medicines to advance the treatment of rare forms of chronic and acute leukemia, lung cancer and other rare cancers.

The Company has one approved cancer medicine, Iclusig® (ponatinib), for the treatment of certain patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (“CML”) and Philadelphia chromosome positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (“Ph+ ALL”). The Company sells Iclusig directly in the United States and has partnered with third parties to commercialize Iclusig in selected territories throughout the rest of the world, including Europe, Japan and the Far East, Canada, Australia, Latin America, Israel and the Middle East and North Africa. The Company is also developing Iclusig in earlier lines of therapy and for additional cancer indications.

In addition to Iclusig, the Company is developing two product candidates for the treatment of certain rare forms of lung cancer. Brigatinib is the Company’s next most advanced drug candidate, which it is developing for the treatment of certain patients with a form of non-small cell lung cancer, or NSCLC. The Company has completed enrollment in a pivotal Phase 2 clinical trial of brigatinib and submitted a new drug application, or NDA, in the United States for the treatment of patients with anaplastic lymphoma kinase, or ALK, positive NSCLC who are resistant to the drug crizotinib. The Company is also studying brigatinib in a Phase 3 clinical trial as a potential first-line therapy. AP32788 is the Company’s most recently discovered drug candidate, and is being developed for the treatment of patients with NSCLC with specific mutations in the EGFR or HER2 kinases. The Company is currently studying AP32788 in a Phase 1/2 clinical trial.

In addition to its clinical development programs, the Company has a focused drug discovery program centered on small-molecule therapies that are molecularly targeted to cell-signaling pathways implicated in cancer, and is also exploring potential new opportunities in immuno-oncology using our expertise in kinase inhibitors.