Asset Acquisition and License Agreements	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2016
Research And Development [Abstract]
Asset Acquisition and License Agreements	7. Asset Acquisition and License Agreements Agreement with Early Development Stage Company, SRX Cardio, LLC In December 2015, we entered into an option agreement with SRX Cardio, LLC (“SRX Cardio”) to explore a novel approach to develop a drug in the field of hypercholesterolemia. This agreement provided us an option to enter into an exclusive license agreement as well as responsibility to lead and fund the development effort during the option period. In September 2016, we exercised our right to enter into an exclusive license agreement. Pursuant to the terms of the agreement, we made an upfront payment of $2.2 million to acquire the license and are obligated to pay up to $152.5 million in research and development milestones and royalties in the range of 2% to 6% of net sales. We may terminate the license agreement upon 90 days notice for convenience and the agreement may also be terminated by either party for a material breach by the other party. We determined that SRX Cardio is and continues to be a variable interest entity and that we hold a variable interest in SRX Cardio’s intellectual property assets and the related potential future product candidates these assets may produce. Due to the absence of other significant development programs at SRX Cardio, we concluded that the variable interest was in the entity as a whole. Given the stage of development, we concluded that SRX Cardio is not considered a business as they lack the processes required to generate outputs. We concluded that the responsibilities assigned to us under the option agreement and as continued via the exclusive license agreement provided us control over those activities most significant to SRX Cardio, and therefore we are considered to be the primary beneficiary of SRX Cardio. Accordingly, SRX Cardio is subject to consolidation and we have consolidated the financial statements of SRX Cardio since inception of the agreement on December 1, 2015 by (a) eliminating all intercompany balances and transactions; and (b) allocating loss attributable to the noncontrolling interest in SRX Cardio to net loss attributable to noncontrolling interest in our consolidated statement of operations and reflecting noncontrolling interest on our consolidated balance sheet. Our interest in SRX Cardio is limited to the development of the intellectual property asset. The upfront payments of $500,000 and $2.2 million and the obligation to fund the development plan represent our maximum exposure to loss under the agreement. We did not acquire any equity interest in SRX Cardio, any interest in SRX Cardio's cash and cash equivalents or any control over their activities that do not relate to the exclusive license agreement. SRX Cardio does not have any right to the Company's assets except as provided in the exclusive license agreement. At the inception of the agreement, the identifiable assets, assumed liabilities and non-controlling interest of SRX Cardio were recorded at their estimated fair value upon the initial consolidation of SRX Cardio, including the in-process research and development intangible asset. We estimated the fair value of these indefinite lived intangible assets to be $3.2 million and the noncontrolling interest to be $2.9 million. The fair value was estimated using present-value models on potential contingent milestones and royalty payments, based on assumptions regarding the probability of achieving the development milestones, estimate of time to develop the drug candidate, estimates of future cash flows from potential product sales and assumptions regarding the appropriate discount rate. There were no material changes to the amounts recorded upon execution of the license agreement. We will evaluate the fair value of contingent milestones and royalties payments at each reporting period. As of September 30, 2016, we have not provided financial or other support to SRX Cardio that was not previously contracted or required. We recorded SRX Cardio’s $1.9 million of cash as restricted cash because (a) we do not have any interest in or control over SRX Cardio's cash and (b) the agreement does not provide for these assets to be used for the development of the intellectual property assets developed pursuant to this agreement. We recorded $1.9 million as net income attributable to noncontrolling interest (SRX Cardio) on our condensed consolidated statements of operations, reflecting SRX Cardio’s net income for the reporting period. The net loss attributable to noncontrolling interest is adjusted for changes in fair value of contingent milestone and royalty payments on a quarterly basis. Should the development program make substantive advancement, we expect to record increases in the fair value of the contingent milestone and royalty payments with a corresponding increase to net loss or decrease to net income attributable to Portola.

7. Asset Acquisition and License Agreements

Agreement with Early Development Stage Company, SRX Cardio, LLC

In December 2015, we entered into an option agreement with SRX Cardio, LLC (“SRX Cardio”) to explore a novel approach to develop a drug in the field of hypercholesterolemia. This agreement provided us an option to enter into an exclusive license agreement as well as responsibility to lead and fund the development effort during the option period.

In September 2016, we exercised our right to enter into an exclusive license agreement. Pursuant to the terms of the agreement, we made an upfront payment of $2.2 million to acquire the license and are obligated to pay up to $152.5 million in research and development milestones and royalties in the range of 2% to 6% of net sales. We may terminate the license agreement upon 90 days notice for convenience and the agreement may also be terminated by either party for a material breach by the other party.

We determined that SRX Cardio is and continues to be a variable interest entity and that we hold a variable interest in SRX Cardio’s intellectual property assets and the related potential future product candidates these assets may produce. Due to the absence of other significant development programs at SRX Cardio, we concluded that the variable interest was in the entity as a whole. Given the stage of development, we concluded that SRX Cardio is not considered a business as they lack the processes required to generate outputs.

We concluded that the responsibilities assigned to us under the option agreement and as continued via the exclusive license agreement provided us control over those activities most significant to SRX Cardio, and therefore we are considered to be the primary beneficiary of SRX Cardio. Accordingly, SRX Cardio is subject to consolidation and we have consolidated the financial statements of SRX Cardio since inception of the agreement on December 1, 2015 by (a) eliminating all intercompany balances and transactions; and (b) allocating loss attributable to the noncontrolling interest in SRX Cardio to net loss attributable to noncontrolling interest in our consolidated statement of operations and reflecting noncontrolling interest on our consolidated balance sheet. Our interest in SRX Cardio is limited to the development of the intellectual property asset. The upfront payments of $500,000 and $2.2 million and the obligation to fund the development plan represent our maximum exposure to loss under the agreement. We did not acquire any equity interest in SRX Cardio, any interest in SRX Cardio's cash and cash equivalents or any control over their activities that do not relate to the exclusive license agreement. SRX Cardio does not have any right to the Company's assets except as provided in the exclusive license agreement.

At the inception of the agreement, the identifiable assets, assumed liabilities and non-controlling interest of SRX Cardio were recorded at their estimated fair value upon the initial consolidation of SRX Cardio, including the in-process research and development intangible asset. We estimated the fair value of these indefinite lived intangible assets to be $3.2 million and the noncontrolling interest to be $2.9 million. The fair value was estimated using present-value models on potential contingent milestones and royalty payments, based on assumptions regarding the probability of achieving the development milestones, estimate of time to develop the drug candidate, estimates of future cash flows from potential product sales and assumptions regarding the appropriate discount rate. There were no material changes to the amounts recorded upon execution of the license agreement. We will evaluate the fair value of contingent milestones and royalties payments at each reporting period.

As of September 30, 2016, we have not provided financial or other support to SRX Cardio that was not previously contracted or required. We recorded SRX Cardio’s $1.9 million of cash as restricted cash because (a) we do not have any interest in or control over SRX Cardio's cash and (b) the agreement does not provide for these assets to be used for the development of the intellectual property assets developed pursuant to this agreement. We recorded $1.9 million as net income attributable to noncontrolling interest (SRX Cardio) on our condensed consolidated statements of operations, reflecting SRX Cardio’s net income for the reporting period. The net loss attributable to noncontrolling interest is adjusted for changes in fair value of contingent milestone and royalty payments on a quarterly basis. Should the development program make substantive advancement, we expect to record increases in the fair value of the contingent milestone and royalty payments with a corresponding increase to net loss or decrease to net income attributable to Portola.