Related Party Transactions - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $)	1 Months Ended					12 Months Ended						112 Months Ended		1 Months Ended			12 Months Ended		1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	1 Months Ended			12 Months Ended	1 Months Ended									1 Months Ended
	Sep. 15, 2009	Feb. 23, 2007 Y	Dec. 18, 2006	May 03, 2006	Dec. 22, 2004 Y	Dec. 31, 2012 Y	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2009 Y	Dec. 31, 2005 Y	Dec. 31, 2004 Y	Dec. 31, 2012 Y	Apr. 26, 2006	Feb. 23, 2007 Placement Agents	Feb. 23, 2007 Private Placement	May 03, 2006 Private Placement Y	Dec. 31, 2012 Private Placement Y	Dec. 31, 2009 Private Placement Y	Sep. 15, 2009 Private Placement Placement Agents	Dec. 31, 2009 Private Placement Placement Agents	Dec. 22, 2004 Pre-Merger	Nov. 07, 2012 Intrexon Corporation	Jan. 25, 2012 Intrexon Corporation	Dec. 31, 2012 Intrexon Corporation	Feb. 23, 2007 Paramount	May 03, 2006 Paramount	Jan. 31, 2005 Paramount	Dec. 30, 2004 Paramount	Dec. 30, 2004 Paramount Installment One	Dec. 30, 2004 Paramount Installment Two	Dec. 30, 2004 Paramount Pre-Merger	Dec. 30, 2004 Paramount Pre-Merger Installment One	Dec. 30, 2004 Paramount Pre-Merger Installment Two	Sep. 15, 2009 Related Parties	Feb. 23, 2007 Related Parties	Sep. 15, 2009 Related Parties Private Placement
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Common stock, shares authorized						250,000,000	250,000,000					250,000,000	250,000,000															2,428,911	1,214,456	1,214,456	4,848,376	2,424,188	2,424,188
Payable to related parties					$ 60,000
Warrants to purchase an aggregate of shares of common stock				799,126	62,621	799,126			8,206,520	50,000	62,621				177,302	799,126		2,910,954	138,617	138,617	125,000					532,750									97,536	65,843
Warrant exercise Price		$ 5.75			$ 4.75	$ 5.09									$ 5.75			$ 2.04	$ 2.04		$ 2.38					$ 5.09
Risk free interest		4.71%		5.01%	3.93%	3.93%			2.14%	4.39%	3.93%	3.93%						2.41%
Expected life		5			7	7			5	5	7	7				7	7	5
Expected volatility		93.00%		100.00%	134.00%	134.00%			105.00%	109.00%	134.00%	134.00%					100.00%	105.00%
Expected dividend yield		0.00%		0.00%	0.00%	0.00%			0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%					0.00%	0.00%
General administrative expenses					251,000	19,523,000	14,984,000	11,636,000		45,000	251,000	88,318,000
Cash commission Percentage																										7.00%	7.00%							3.325%	6.00%
Warrants issuable as a percentage of shares	5.00%					10.00%									3.00%											10.00%	10.00%
Warrant term		5 years							5 years																	7 years	7 years							5 years
Percentage of per share exercise price																											110.00%
Payable to related parties																											50,000
Cash commission paid		1,000,000		1,700,000		1,700,000								1,600,000			2,600,000								1,000,000									168,000
Payment to related parties			180,000
Payments for services																								11,400,000
Amounts paid for services incurred																								6,500,000
Remaining service expenses expected to be incurred						$ 6,912,000	$ 1,313,000					$ 6,912,000												$ 4,900,000
Issuance of common stock																						3,636,926	1,923,075