Represents the amount of revenue earned from product sales during the reporting period.

No definition available.

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

- Definition

Number of Distributors

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	ptct_Numberofdistributors
Namespace Prefix:	ptct_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Percentage of new product sales

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	ptct_Percentageofnetproductsales
Namespace Prefix:	ptct_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Revenue Recognition, Milestone, Potential Achievements

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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

- Definition

Amount of revenue recognized that was previously included in balance of obligation to transfer good or service to customer for which consideration from customer has been received or is due.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 606
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 8
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=118956577&loc=SL49130549-203045

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ContractWithCustomerLiabilityRevenueRecognized
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Number of operating segments. An operating segment is a component of an enterprise: (a) that engages in business activities from which it may earn revenues and incur expenses (including revenues and expenses relating to transactions with other components of the same enterprise), (b) whose operating results are regularly reviewed by the enterprise's chief operating decision maker to make decisions about resources to be allocated to the segment and assess its performance, and (c) for which discrete financial information is available. An operating segment may engage in business activities for which it has yet to earn revenues, for example, start-up operations may be operating segments before earning revenues.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_NumberOfOperatingSegments
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount, excluding tax collected from customer, of revenue from satisfaction of performance obligation by transferring promised good or service to customer. Tax collected from customer is tax assessed by governmental authority that is both imposed on and concurrent with specific revenue-producing transaction, including, but not limited to, sales, use, value added and excise.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 606
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 4
-Subparagraph (a)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=118956577&loc=SL49130543-203045

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 606
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 5
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=118956577&loc=SL49130545-203045

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount, including tax collected from customer, of revenue from satisfaction of performance obligation by transferring promised good or service to customer. Tax collected from customer is tax assessed by governmental authority that is both imposed on and concurrent with specific revenue-producing transaction, including, but not limited to, sales, use, value-added and excise.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 606
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 5
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=118956577&loc=SL49130545-203045

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 606
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 4
-Subparagraph (a)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=118956577&loc=SL49130543-203045

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_RevenueFromContractWithCustomerIncludingAssessedTax
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
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

Name:	us-gaap_RevenueInitialApplicationPeriodCumulativeEffectTransitionLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	srt_ProductOrServiceAxis=ptct_LicensingAndCollaborationAgreementMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	ptct_MilestoneAxis=ptct_ResearchAndDevelopmentEventMilestonesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	ptct_MilestoneAxis=ptct_SalesMilestonesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	srt_StatementGeographicalAxis=country_US
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	srt_StatementGeographicalAxis=us-gaap_NonUsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

Revenue recognition - Narrative (Details)	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended
Revenue recognition - Narrative (Details)	Nov. 30, 2011 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2020 USD ($) Number_Distributor	Jun. 30, 2019 USD ($) Number_Distributor	Jun. 30, 2020 USD ($) Number_Distributor segment	Jun. 30, 2019 USD ($) Number_Distributor
Revenue, Initial Application Period Cumulative Effect Transition [Line Items]
Number of operating segments \| segment				1
Percentage of net product sales		10.00%	10.00%	10.00%	10.00%
Number of distributors \| Number_Distributor		2	2	2	2
Revenue		$ 75,239,000	$ 85,522,000	$ 143,498,000	$ 139,105,000
Performance obligations satisfied in current period		2,000,000.0		4,000,000.0
Licensing And Collaboration Agreement
Revenue, Initial Application Period Cumulative Effect Transition [Line Items]
Revenue		0	100,000	100,000	100,000
Licensing And Collaboration Agreement \| Research And Development Event Milestones
Revenue, Initial Application Period Cumulative Effect Transition [Line Items]
Revenue recognition, milestone, potential achievements	$ 135,000,000.0			72,500,000
Licensing And Collaboration Agreement \| Sales Milestones
Revenue, Initial Application Period Cumulative Effect Transition [Line Items]
Revenue recognition, milestone, potential achievements	$ 325,000,000.0			325,000,000.0
United States
Revenue, Initial Application Period Cumulative Effect Transition [Line Items]
Net product revenue		36,200,000	27,600,000	63,600,000	45,400,000
Non-US
Revenue, Initial Application Period Cumulative Effect Transition [Line Items]
Net product revenue		$ 39,000,000.0	$ 57,800,000	$ 79,800,000	$ 93,000,000.0