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Organization and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $)	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2015 Segment	Mar. 31, 2014	Dec. 31, 2014
Organization And Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Cash and investments in marketable securities	$ 325,805,000nktr_CashRestrictedCashCashEquivalentsAndAvailableForSaleInvestments		$ 262,824,000nktr_CashRestrictedCashCashEquivalentsAndAvailableForSaleInvestments
Senior secured notes, issued	125,000,000us-gaap_SeniorLongTermNotes		125,000,000us-gaap_SeniorLongTermNotes
Restricted cash	25,000,000us-gaap_RestrictedCashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue		25,000,000us-gaap_RestrictedCashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue
Long-term debt	134,800,000us-gaap_LongTermDebt
Capital lease obligations	9,800,000us-gaap_CapitalLeaseObligations
Capital lease obligations, current	5,412,000us-gaap_CapitalLeaseObligationsCurrent		4,512,000us-gaap_CapitalLeaseObligationsCurrent
Number of business segments	1us-gaap_NumberOfOperatingSegments
Asset impairment charges	0us-gaap_AssetImpairmentCharges
Effective income tax rate	34.00%us-gaap_EffectiveIncomeTaxRateContinuingOperations	34.00%us-gaap_EffectiveIncomeTaxRateContinuingOperations
12% Senior Secured Notes Due July 2017 [Member]
Organization And Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Senior secured notes, interest rate	12.00%us-gaap_DebtInstrumentInterestRateStatedPercentage / us-gaap_LongtermDebtTypeAxis = us-gaap_SeniorNotesMember
Senior secured notes, maturity date	Jul. 15, 2017
Restricted cash	$ 25,000,000us-gaap_RestrictedCashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue / us-gaap_LongtermDebtTypeAxis = us-gaap_SeniorNotesMember

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Amount of write-down of assets recognized in the income statement. Includes, but is not limited to, losses from tangible assets, intangible assets and goodwill.

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Amount equal to the present value (the principal) at the beginning of the lease term of minimum lease payments during the lease term (excluding that portion of the payments representing executory costs such as insurance, maintenance, and taxes to be paid by the lessor, together with any profit thereon) net of payments or other amounts applied to the principal through the balance sheet date.

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Amount of capital lease obligation due within one year or the normal operating cycle, if longer.

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Contractual interest rate for funds borrowed, under the debt agreement.

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Date when the debt instrument is scheduled to be fully repaid, in CCYY-MM-DD format.

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Carrying amount of long-term debt, net of unamortized discount or premium, including current and noncurrent amounts. Includes, but not limited to, notes payable, bonds payable, debentures, mortgage loans and commercial paper. Excludes capital lease obligations.

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The carrying amounts of cash and cash equivalent items which are restricted as to withdrawal or usage. Restrictions may include legally restricted deposits held as compensating balances against short-term borrowing arrangements, contracts entered into with others, or entity statements of intention with regard to particular deposits; however, time deposits and short-term certificates of deposit are not generally included in legally restricted deposits. Excludes compensating balance arrangements that are not agreements which legally restrict the use of cash amounts shown on the balance sheet. For a classified balance sheet represents the current portion only (the noncurrent portion has a separate concept); there is a separate and distinct element for unclassified presentations.

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Carrying value as of the balance sheet date of Notes with the highest claim on the assets of the issuer in case of bankruptcy or liquidation (with maturities initially due after one year or beyond the operating cycle if longer), excluding current portion. Senior note holders are paid off in full before any payments are made to junior note holders.

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