Development And Regulatory Milestone Payment Obligations, Period

No definition available.

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Namespace Prefix:	ptct_
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- Definition

Represents the development milestones payments which the entity is obligated to pay under certain contractual agreements.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	ptct_DevelopmentMilestonePaymentObligations
Namespace Prefix:	ptct_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Milestone, Potential Achievements, Regulatory Approval

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	ptct_MilestonePotentialAchievementsRegulatoryApproval
Namespace Prefix:	ptct_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Operating Leases

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	ptct_
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Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Upfront Licensing Fee

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	ptct_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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- Definition

Amount of operating lease expense. Excludes sublease income.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2009/role/commonPracticeRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 842
-SubTopic 20
-Section 45
-Paragraph 4
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=77888419&loc=SL77918638-209977

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Details

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- Details

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- Details

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Data Type:	na
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- Details

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Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
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Period Type:

- Details

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- Details

Name:	srt_RangeAxis=srt_MaximumMember
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Commitments and contingencies - Narrative (Details)	12 Months Ended
Commitments and contingencies - Narrative (Details)	Dec. 31, 2018 USD ($) operating_lease	Dec. 31, 2017 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($)	Aug. 23, 2018 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2016 USD ($)
Other contingencies
Number of Operating Leases \| operating_lease	3
Operating Lease, Expense	$ 2,700,000	$ 2,200,000	$ 2,200,000
Akcea
Other contingencies
Development And Regulatory Milestone Payment Obligations, Period	30 days
Upfront licensing fee	$ 12,000,000
Milestone, Potential Achievements, Regulatory Approval	4,000,000
Funding agreement \| Wellcome trust limited
Other contingencies
Development milestone payment obligations	22,400,000				$ 800,000
Non-collaborative Arrangement Transactions \| Akcea
Other contingencies
Development milestone payment obligations	6,000,000
Agilis
Other contingencies
Development milestone payment obligations	40,000,000			$ 40,000,000
Agilis \| Non-collaborative Arrangement Transactions
Other contingencies
Development milestone payment obligations	40,000,000			$ 40,000,000
Maximum \| Akcea
Other contingencies
Milestone, Potential Achievements, Regulatory Approval	8,000,000
Maximum \| Agilis
Other contingencies
Development milestone payment obligations	$ 60,000,000.0