CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (USD $)
 3 Months Ended 9 Months Ended 12 Months Ended 179 Months Ended 188 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2012
Sep. 30, 2011
Sep. 30, 2012
Sep. 30, 2011
Dec. 31, 2011
Dec. 31, 2010
Dec. 31, 2011
Sep. 30, 2012
Revenue:                
Sales $ 13,679    $ 63,614          $ 99,692
Grant income 591,667    675,000          1,675,445
Total revenue 605,346    738,614    36,078    36,078 1,775,137
Cost of revenue 141,849    261,101    11,760    11,760 716,848
Gross margin 463,497    477,513    24,318    24,318 1,058,289
Other Expenses:                
Research and development 554,266 779,589 1,854,407 2,393,573 2,888,245 1,757,370 50,899,338 53,310,203
Legal, financial and other consulting 150,785 93,703 385,612 260,475 342,651 307,262 7,957,890 8,343,502
Selling, general and administrative 359,625 352,393 915,402 814,287 1,230,189 759,387 25,056,473 25,971,875
Change in fair value of management and incentive units                   (6,055,483) (6,055,483)
Total expenses 1,064,676 1,225,685 3,155,421 3,468,335 4,461,085 2,824,019 77,858,218 81,570,097
Loss from operations (601,179) (1,225,685) (2,677,908) (3,468,335) (4,436,767) (2,824,019) (77,833,900) (80,511,808)
Other (income)/expense:                
Gain on disposal of property and equipment                   (21,663) (21,663)
Gain on extinguishment of debt                   (216,617) (216,617)
Interest expense/(income), net 50,801 503,242 447,978 816,358 1,044,881 84,846 6,737,122 7,185,100
Penalties associated with non-registration of Series A Preferred Stock                   361,495 361,495
Total other (income)/expense, net 50,801 503,242 447,978 816,358 1,044,881 84,846 6,860,337 7,308,315
Loss before benefit from income taxes (651,980) (1,728,927) (3,125,886) (4,284,693) (5,481,648) (2,908,865) (84,694,237) (87,820,123)
Benefit from income taxes                   (547,318) (547,318)
Net loss (651,980) (1,728,927) (3,125,886) (4,284,693) (5,481,648) (2,908,865) (84,146,919) (87,272,805)
Preferred Stock Dividend 629,725 734,857 1,870,846 2,354,428 3,087,044 2,177,464 8,410,623 10,281,469
Net Loss available to common shareholders $ (1,281,705) $ (2,463,784) $ (4,996,732) $ (6,639,121) $ (8,568,692) $ (5,086,329) $ (92,557,542) $ (97,554,274)
Basic and diluted net loss per common share $ (0.01) $ (0.01) $ (0.03) $ (0.04) $ (0.05) $ (0.05)    
Weighted average number of shares of common stock outstanding 204,438,894 168,230,680 193,383,650 153,796,011 160,235,291 98,094,768