Achieve Life Sciences, Inc. Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Subsequent Events - Additional Information (Detail)

Subsequent Events - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $)	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	0 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2013	Mar. 31, 2015	Apr. 30, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014	Apr. 24, 2015
Subsequent Event [Line Items]
Common stock, par value		$ 0.001		$ 0.001
Common stock, shares issued		22,688,329us-gaap_CommonStockSharesIssued		22,630,652us-gaap_CommonStockSharesIssued
MLV [Member]
Subsequent Event [Line Items]
Common stock, par value	$ 0.001
Proceeds from sale of common stock	$ 25,000,000
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. [Member]
Subsequent Event [Line Items]
Maximum cost exposure if third-party agreements discovered after the termination date		100,000
Collaborative Arrangement \| Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. [Member]
Subsequent Event [Line Items]
Proceeds from sale of common stock		10,000,000
Subsequent Event
Subsequent Event [Line Items]
Proceeds From Advance reimbursement research and development					27,000,000
Hold-back and third-party expense					3,800,000
Subsequent Event \| LPC [Member]
Subsequent Event [Line Items]
Common stock, par value			$ 0.001
Proceeds from sale of common stock			0
Common stock value right to sell, maximum			18,000,000
Common stock , purchase price			$ 1.50
Additional common stock value right to sell, maximum			16,000,000
Additional purchase of common stock, maximum			125,000
Common stock, shares issued			126,582
Subsequent Event \| LPC [Member] \| Series A-1 Units [Member]
Subsequent Event [Line Items]
Initial purchase of common stock			956,938
Common stock , purchase price			$ 2.09
Purchase agreement, description			Series A-1 Unit consisting of (a) one share of Common Stock and (b) one warrant to purchase one-quarter of a share of Common Stock at an exercise price of $2.40 per share, or Series A-1 Warrant. Each Series A-1 Warrant is exercisable six months following the issuance date until the date that if five years and six months after the issuance date and is subject to customary adjustments.
Exercise price per unit of warrant			$ 2.40
Initial purchase of units consisting of common stock and warrants issued			2,000,000
Subsequent Event \| LPC [Member] \| Other Than Series A-1 Units [Member]
Subsequent Event [Line Items]
Number of warrants issued			0
Subsequent Event \| Collaborative Arrangement
Subsequent Event [Line Items]
Hold-back and third-party expense					$ 3,000,000