Document and Entity Information	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2010	Nov. 01, 2010
Document Information [Line Items]
Document Type	10-Q
Amendment Flag	false
Document Period End Date	Sep. 30, 2010
Document Fiscal Year Focus	2010
Document Fiscal Period Focus	Q3
Trading Symbol	ZIOP
Entity Registrant Name	ZIOPHARM ONCOLOGY INC
Entity Central Index Key	0001107421
Current Fiscal Year End Date	--12-31
Entity Filer Category	Smaller Reporting Company
Entity Common Stock, Shares Outstanding		48,557,678

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The type of document being provided (such as 10-K, 10-Q, N-1A, etc). The document type is limited to the same value as the supporting SEC submission type, minus any "/A" suffix. The acceptable values are as follows: S-1, S-3, S-4, S-11, F-1, F-3, F-4, F-9, F-10, 6-K, 8-K, 10, 10-K, 10-Q, 20-F, 40-F, N-1A, 485BPOS, 497, NCSR, N-CSR, N-CSRS, N-Q, 10-KT, 10-QT, 20-FT, and Other.

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Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
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Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
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