Company Overview (Details Textual) (USD $)	1 Months Ended	6 Months Ended						6 Months Ended		1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended	6 Months Ended		6 Months Ended			6 Months Ended
	Jul. 31, 2012	Jun. 30, 2012 Clinical_trial	Dec. 31, 2011	Jun. 25, 2011	Dec. 25, 2010	Jun. 30, 2012 Nabi [Member]	Jun. 30, 2012 Biota [Member]	Jun. 30, 2012 NicVAX [Member] Clinical_trial	Jun. 30, 2012 NicVAX [Member] Develop Next-Generation [Member]	Nov. 30, 2009 PentaStaph [Member]	Dec. 31, 2006 PhosLo [Member]	Jun. 30, 2012 Maximum [Member]	Jul. 31, 2012 Maximum [Member]	Jun. 30, 2012 Maximum [Member] NicVAX [Member]	Jun. 30, 2012 Minimum [Member]	Jul. 31, 2012 Minimum [Member]	Jun. 30, 2012 Minimum [Member] NicVAX [Member]
Company Overview (Textual) [Abstract]
Cash and cash equivalents		$ 92,649,000	$ 94,310,000	$ 86,618,000	$ 53,564,000			$ 92,600,000
Shares Exchanged								0.669212231
Ownership Percentage						26.00%	74.00%
Amount of cash to be returned												29,000,000			25,000,000
Number of authorized Shares						200,000,000
Stock repurchase program price per share of common stock													$ 1.72			$ 1.58
Initial payment received								40,000,000
Additional fee amount on exercise of options									290,000,000
Percent increase in royalty payments												7.00%		7.00%	5.00%		5.00%
Annual sales targets												600,000,000		600,000,000	300,000,000		300,000,000
Total consideration received for selling the assets of the vaccine products										46,000,000
Upfront payment received on the consideration amount										20,000,000
Amount receivable upon achievement of milestones										26,000,000
Additional contingent milestone payments											2,500,000
Royalty payments											65,000,000
Base amount											32,000,000
Period of base amount											10 years
Company Overview (Additional Textual) [Abstract]
Excess cash		54,000,000
Amount paid to shareholders tendering shares	24,400,000
Net closing cash balance		54,000,000
Number of shares repurchased	14,547,996
Total value of shares repurchased	24,400,000
Average price paid per share for repurchase	$ 1.68
Number of phase III clinical trials		2						2
Payments related to trial-related milestones		47,000,000						47,000,000
Payments related to regulatory approval		34,000,000						34,000,000
Payments related to annual sales		$ 209,000,000							$ 209,000,000