EQUITY PLANS AND SHARE-BASED COMPENSATION - Share-based compensation cost by line item and award type (Details) - USD ($)	3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2017	Jun. 30, 2016	Jun. 30, 2017	Jun. 30, 2016
Employee Service Share-based Compensation, Allocation of Recognized Period Costs [Line Items]
Share-based compensation cost	$ 16,174	$ 340,142	$ 95,911	$ 557,980
Stock options [Member]
Employee Service Share-based Compensation, Allocation of Recognized Period Costs [Line Items]
Share-based compensation cost	16,174	141,574	70,000	236,958
Restricted stock units and awards [Member]
Employee Service Share-based Compensation, Allocation of Recognized Period Costs [Line Items]
Share-based compensation cost	0	198,568	26,329	321,022
Research and development [Member]
Employee Service Share-based Compensation, Allocation of Recognized Period Costs [Line Items]
Share-based compensation cost	287	79,595	16,898	125,284
Selling, general, administrative [Member]
Employee Service Share-based Compensation, Allocation of Recognized Period Costs [Line Items]
Share-based compensation cost	$ 15,887	$ 260,547	$ 79,013	$ 432,696