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

Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Commitments and Contingencies - Additional Information (Detail)

Commitments and Contingencies - Additional Information (Detail)		1 Months Ended		3 Months Ended		4 Months Ended	6 Months Ended
	Apr. 24, 2015 USD ($)	Feb. 28, 2015 USD ($) ft²	Dec. 31, 2009 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2015 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2014 USD ($)	Apr. 24, 2015 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2015 USD ($) ft²	Jun. 30, 2015 CAD ft²	Jun. 30, 2014 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2015 CAD	May. 14, 2015	Feb. 01, 2015 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2014 USD ($)
Other Commitments [Line Items]
Gross Proceeds									$ 2,860,000
Expiration of operating lease agreement							2015-09	2015-09
Consolidated rent and facilities expense				$ 100,000	$ 700,000		$ 700,000		$ 1,400,000
Lease termination agreement, additional fee payable		$ 1,300,000
Lease termination liability				1,250,000			1,250,000						$ 3,250,000
Indemnification obligations				0			0
Expenses related to indemnification issues							$ 0
Grosvenor International Limited [Member]
Other Commitments [Line Items]
Area of office space leased \| ft²		11,526
Additional area of office space available to lease, optional \| ft²		8,054
Expiration date of option to lease additional area of office space		Aug. 01, 2015
Lease expiration date		Apr. 30, 2018
Optional lease renewal		3 years
Monthly base rent commencement date		May 01, 2015
Lessee's share of property tax percentage.		17.00%
Lease agreement, construction allowance receivable												$ 100,000
Deposit amount under lease agreement												$ 200,000
Additional office space \| ft²							2,245	2,245
Grosvenor International Limited [Member] \| Maximum [Member]
Other Commitments [Line Items]
Monthly base rent		$ 20,000
Grosvenor International Limited [Member] \| Minimum [Member]
Other Commitments [Line Items]
Monthly base rent		$ 18,000
BMR-217TH Place LLC [Member]
Other Commitments [Line Items]
Lease termination agreement, date of termination		Mar. 01, 2015
Letter of credit drawn to pay deferred state sales tax		$ 100,000
Letter of credit terminated		200,000
Terminated lease		500,000
Lease termination liability				1,300,000			$ 1,300,000
BMR-217TH Place LLC [Member] \| Termination Fee [Member]
Other Commitments [Line Items]
Lease termination agreement, fee paid		2,000,000
BMR-217TH Place LLC [Member] \| Minimum [Member]
Other Commitments [Line Items]
Amount of funding to raise that would trigger payment of additional termination fee		$ 20,000,000
Collaborative Arrangement \| Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. [Member]
Other Commitments [Line Items]
Proceeds From Advance reimbursement research and development						$ 27,000,000
Hold-back amount and third-party expenses deducted from termination payment	$ 3,800,000					3,800,000
Hold-back amount deducted from termination payment	3,000,000					3,000,000
Third-party expenses deducted from termination payment						$ 800,000
Maximum cost exposure if third-party agreements discovered after the termination date							100,000
Collaboration agreement aggregate amount			$ 50,000,000
Gross Proceeds							10,000,000
Direct and indirect costs incurred				30,000,000			$ 30,000,000
Collaborative Arrangement \| University of British Columbia [Member]
Other Commitments [Line Items]
Obligation to pay patent costs and annual license maintenance fees \| CAD								CAD 8,000
Milestone payment \| CAD								CAD 100,000
Expiry period of agreement of patented license							20 years	20 years
Collaborative Arrangement \| University of British Columbia [Member] \| Maximum [Member]
Other Commitments [Line Items]
Milestone payments \| CAD										CAD 1,600,000
Collaborative Arrangement \| Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc. [Member]
Other Commitments [Line Items]
Collaboration agreement aggregate amount	$ 23,200,000
Net proceed from collaboration agreement amount, requested payment percentage											30.00%
Hold-back amount, requested payment percentage											30.00%
Amount due to Isis for reimbursement for research and development activities				0			$ 0
Milestone payment							$ 800,000
Range of each product line							10 years	10 years
Milestone payment due							$ 20,000,000
Period of milestone payment							21 days	21 days
Reserve for contingency of non payment of non-royalty milestone amount				20,000,000			$ 20,000,000
Milestone payment made				10,000,000			10,000,000
Balance amount of milestone payment				10,000,000			10,000,000
Collaborative Arrangement \| Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc. [Member] \| Maximum [Member]
Other Commitments [Line Items]
Milestone payments				$ 7,750,000			$ 7,750,000