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 ($)	Aug. 31, 2016 USD ($)	Feb. 29, 2016 USD ($) Employee	Feb. 28, 2015 USD ($) ft²	Dec. 31, 2009 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2016 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2015 USD ($)	Apr. 24, 2015 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2016 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2015 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2016 CAD	Jun. 30, 2016 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($)	May 14, 2015	Feb. 01, 2015 USD ($)
Other Commitments [Line Items]
Expiration of operating lease agreement										2017-09
Additional office space \| ft²	2,245
Consolidated rent and facilities expense							$ 100,000	$ 100,000		$ 400,000	$ 800,000
Lease termination agreement, additional fee payable					$ 1,300,000
Lease termination liability														$ 1,250,000
Indemnification obligations							0			0
Expenses related to indemnification issues										0
Reduction in workforce \| Employee				11
Percentage of workforce reduction				27.00%
Expenses on workforce reduction				$ 400,000
Vancouver, Canada [Member]
Other Commitments [Line Items]
Aggregate future minimum annual lease payments under the lease							100,000			100,000
Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc. [Member]
Other Commitments [Line Items]
Litigation settlement, upfront payment			$ 1,400,000
Royalty payment percentage			5.00%
Sale, license or other transaction payment percentage			50.00%
Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc. [Member] \| Maximum [Member]
Other Commitments [Line Items]
Litigation settlement, success based payment			$ 5,000,000
Grosvenor International Limited [Member]
Other Commitments [Line Items]
Area of office space leased \| ft²					11,526
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%
Construction allowance received for leasehold improvements																$ 100,000
Deposit amount under lease agreement																$ 200,000
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
Reversed lease termination liability current							1,300,000			1,300,000
BMR-217TH Place LLC [Member] \| Termination Fee [Member]
Other Commitments [Line Items]
Lease termination agreement, fee payable					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 [Member] \| 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 advanced reimbursement payment		$ 3,800,000							3,800,000
Hold-back amount deducted from advanced reimbursement payment		3,000,000							3,000,000
Third-party expenses deducted from advanced reimbursement 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 [Member] \| Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc. [Member]
Other Commitments [Line Items]
Collaboration agreement aggregate amount		$ 23,200,000
Net proceed from collaboration agreement amount, requested payment percentage															20.00%
Hold-back amount, requested payment percentage															30.00%
Lawsuit filing date										January 2016
Range of each product line										10 years
Collaborative Arrangement [Member] \| Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc. [Member] \| Maximum [Member]
Other Commitments [Line Items]
Milestone payments							$ 7,750,000			$ 7,750,000
Collaborative Arrangement [Member] \| University of British Columbia [Member] \| Maximum [Member]
Other Commitments [Line Items]
Milestone payments \| CAD												CAD 1,600,000