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	9 Months Ended
	Aug. 01, 2015 ft²	Apr. 24, 2015 USD ($)	Feb. 28, 2015 USD ($) ft²	Dec. 31, 2009 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2015 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2014 USD ($)	Apr. 24, 2015 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2015 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2015 CAD	Sep. 30, 2014 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2015 CAD	May. 14, 2015	Feb. 01, 2015 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2014 USD ($)
Other Commitments [Line Items]
Gross Proceeds										$ 22,372,000
Expiration of operating lease agreement								2016-09	2016-09
Consolidated rent and facilities expense					$ 100,000	$ 700,000		$ 800,000		$ 2,100,000
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
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
Expected receivables from hold-back amount					3,000,000			3,000,000
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