Note 1 - Nature of Business	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2022
Notes to Financial Statements
Nature of Business and Liquidity [Text Block]	1. Nature of Business The terms “MBI” or “the Company”, “we”, “our” and “us” are used herein to refer to Moleculin Biotech, Inc. MBI is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company, organized as a Delaware corporation in July 2015, with clinical programs for hard-to-treat cancers and viruses. The Company has three core technologies, each of which have had one or more drugs successfully complete a Phase 1 clinical trial, based substantially on discoveries made at and licensed from MD Anderson Cancer Center (MD Anderson) in Houston, Texas. MBI formed Moleculin Australia Pty. Ltd., (MAPL), a wholly owned subsidiary in June 2018, to perform certain preclinical development in Australia. This has enabled the Company to realize the benefits of certain research and development tax credits in Australia. In July 2021, MBI formed Moleculin Amsterdam B.V., a wholly owned subsidiary, primarily to act as its legal representative for clinical trials in Europe for Moleculin Biotech, Inc. In 2019, the Company sublicensed essentially all of the rights to its technologies in over 25 countries in Europe and Asia to WPD Pharmaceuticals Sp.z o.o. (WPD or WPD Pharmaceuticals) in exchange for a minimum amount of externally funded collaboration on development in Europe over a certain amount of time. This sublicense was terminated in March 2023 as described further below. As a result to this termination, the Company now has the world-wide rights to its technology. Also, in 2019, the Company sublicensed its technologies to Animal Life Sciences, Inc. (ALI), to enable research and commercialization for non-human use and share development data. As part of this agreement, ALI issued to the Company a 10% interest in ALI. The Company utilizes its own internal resources and funds to conduct some of these trials and also has trials being conducted via physician-sponsored trials which utilizes primarily external funds, usually grant funds, which are not presented in these financial statements. The Company does not have manufacturing facilities and all manufacturing activities are contracted out to third parties. Additionally, the Company does not have a sales organization. The Company’s overall strategy is to seek potential outlicensing or outsourcing opportunities with development/commercialization strategic partners who are better suited for the marketing, sales and distribution of its drugs, if approved.

Note 1 - Nature of Business

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2022

Nature of Business and Liquidity [Text Block]

1. Nature of Business

The terms “MBI” or “the Company”, “we”, “our” and “us” are used herein to refer to Moleculin Biotech, Inc. MBI is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company, organized as a Delaware corporation in July 2015, with clinical programs for hard-to-treat cancers and viruses. The Company has three core technologies, each of which have had one or more drugs successfully complete a Phase 1 clinical trial, based substantially on discoveries made at and licensed from MD Anderson Cancer Center (MD Anderson) in Houston, Texas.

MBI formed Moleculin Australia Pty. Ltd., (MAPL), a wholly owned subsidiary in June 2018, to perform certain preclinical development in Australia. This has enabled the Company to realize the benefits of certain research and development tax credits in Australia. In July 2021, MBI formed Moleculin Amsterdam B.V., a wholly owned subsidiary, primarily to act as its legal representative for clinical trials in Europe for Moleculin Biotech, Inc.

In 2019, the Company sublicensed essentially all of the rights to its technologies in over 25 countries in Europe and Asia to WPD Pharmaceuticals Sp.z o.o. (WPD or WPD Pharmaceuticals) in exchange for a minimum amount of externally funded collaboration on development in Europe over a certain amount of time. This sublicense was terminated in March 2023 as described further below. As a result to this termination, the Company now has the world-wide rights to its technology. Also, in 2019, the Company sublicensed its technologies to Animal Life Sciences, Inc. (ALI), to enable research and commercialization for non-human use and share development data. As part of this agreement, ALI issued to the Company a 10% interest in ALI.

The Company utilizes its own internal resources and funds to conduct some of these trials and also has trials being conducted via physician-sponsored trials which utilizes primarily external funds, usually grant funds, which are not presented in these financial statements.

The Company does not have manufacturing facilities and all manufacturing activities are contracted out to third parties. Additionally, the Company does not have a sales organization. The Company’s overall strategy is to seek potential outlicensing or outsourcing opportunities with development/commercialization strategic partners who are better suited for the marketing, sales and distribution of its drugs, if approved.