Accrued Expenses - Summary of Accrued Expenses (Detail) (USD $)	Mar. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014
Payables and Accruals [Abstract]
Accrued research and development expenses	$ 1,750,799	$ 2,726,511
Accrued license and milestone fees		1,500,000glyc_AccruedLicenseAndMilestoneFees
Accrued consulting and other professional fees	347,727us-gaap_AccruedProfessionalFeesCurrent	77,273us-gaap_AccruedProfessionalFeesCurrent
Other accrued expenses	237,454us-gaap_OtherAccruedLiabilitiesCurrent	151,415us-gaap_OtherAccruedLiabilitiesCurrent
Accrued employee benefits	269,839us-gaap_AccruedEmployeeBenefitsCurrent	168,009us-gaap_AccruedEmployeeBenefitsCurrent
Accrued taxes	20,388us-gaap_AccruedIncomeTaxes	112,511us-gaap_AccruedIncomeTaxes
Accrued expenses total	$ 2,626,207us-gaap_AccruedLiabilitiesCurrent	$ 4,735,719us-gaap_AccruedLiabilitiesCurrent

Carrying value as of the balance sheet date of obligations, excluding pension and other postretirement benefits, incurred through that date and payable for perquisites provided to employees pertaining to services received from them. Used to reflect the current portion of the liabilities (due within one year or within the normal operating cycle if longer).

+ References+ Details

Carrying amount as of the balance sheet date of the unpaid sum of the known and estimated amounts payable to satisfy all domestic and foreign income tax obligations due. This amount is the total of current and noncurrent accrued income taxes.

+ References+ Details

- Definition

Carrying value as of the balance sheet date of obligations incurred through that date and payable for professional fees, such as for legal and accounting services received. Used to reflect the current portion of the liabilities (due within one year or within the normal operating cycle if longer).

+ References+ Details

- Definition

Carrying value as of the balance sheet date of obligations incurred through that date and payable arising from transactions not otherwise specified in the taxonomy. Used to reflect the current portion of the liabilities (due within one year or within the normal operating cycle if longer).

+ References+ Details