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Commitments and Contingencies - Additional Information (Detail) - USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015	Aug. 14, 2015
Loss Contingencies [Line Items]
Damage claim for alleged unpaid licenses			$ 1,500,000
Indemnification Obligation [Member]
Loss Contingencies [Line Items]
Indemnification obligations, liabilities	$ 0	$ 0

X

- Definition

Damage Claim For Unpaid Licensing Fee

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	nktr_DamageClaimForUnpaidLicensingFee
Namespace Prefix:	nktr_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

X

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

X

- Definition

Amount of loss contingency liability.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 450
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=25496072&loc=d3e14326-108349

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LossContingencyAccrualAtCarryingValue
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

X

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_LossContingenciesByNatureOfContingencyAxis=us-gaap_IndemnificationGuaranteeMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: