Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations (Unaudited) (USD $) In Thousands, except Share data, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2015	Mar. 31, 2014
Revenues:
Products	$ 15,486us-gaap_SalesRevenueGoodsNet	$ 19,828us-gaap_SalesRevenueGoodsNet
Revenue from services	2,069us-gaap_SalesRevenueServicesNet	1,970us-gaap_SalesRevenueServicesNet
Revenue from transfer of intellectual property	12,529	476
Total revenues	30,084us-gaap_SalesRevenueNet	22,274us-gaap_SalesRevenueNet
Costs and expenses:
Costs of revenues	10,320us-gaap_CostOfGoodsAndServicesSold	12,391us-gaap_CostOfGoodsAndServicesSold
Selling, general and administrative	17,446	13,812
Research and development	25,503us-gaap_ResearchAndDevelopmentExpense	20,994us-gaap_ResearchAndDevelopmentExpense
Contingent consideration	5,175	2,610
Amortization of intangible assets	2,665us-gaap_AmortizationOfIntangibleAssets	2,744us-gaap_AmortizationOfIntangibleAssets
Grant repayment	25,889	0
Total costs and expenses	86,998us-gaap_OperatingExpenses	52,551us-gaap_OperatingExpenses
Operating loss	(56,914)us-gaap_OperatingIncomeLoss	(30,277)us-gaap_OperatingIncomeLoss
Other income and (expense), net:
Interest income	8opk_InterestIncomeNonoperating	40opk_InterestIncomeNonoperating
Interest expense	(2,565)opk_InterestExpenseNonoperating	(3,486)opk_InterestExpenseNonoperating
Fair value changes of derivative instruments, net	(49,788)	(10,373)
Other income (expense), net	(1,508)us-gaap_OtherNonoperatingIncomeExpense	1,675us-gaap_OtherNonoperatingIncomeExpense
Other income and (expense), net	(53,853)us-gaap_NonoperatingIncomeExpense	(12,144)us-gaap_NonoperatingIncomeExpense
Loss before income taxes and investment losses	(110,767)	(42,421)
Income tax benefit (provision)	(5,509)us-gaap_IncomeTaxExpenseBenefit	(614)us-gaap_IncomeTaxExpenseBenefit
Loss before investment losses	(116,276)	(43,035)
Loss from investments in investees	(1,761)	(2,056)
Net loss	(118,037)us-gaap_ProfitLoss	(45,091)us-gaap_ProfitLoss
Less: Net loss attributable to noncontrolling interests	(925)	(540)
Net loss attributable to common shareholders	$ (117,112)	$ (44,551)
Net loss per share (usd per share)	$ (0.26)us-gaap_EarningsPerShareBasicAndDiluted	$ (0.11)us-gaap_EarningsPerShareBasicAndDiluted
Weighted average number of common shares outstanding, basic and diluted	446,480,884	412,909,809

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