California-based pharmaceutical company Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc announced today it will change its name to Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc, switching its stock ticker from “ISIS” to “IONS.” The change came after a long deliberation, and was made to avoid associating the company with the infamous terrorist organization. So if you had been planning to buy your whole family ISIS stock for the holidays, now’s your last chance.
Let’s hope the name change saves newly minted Ionis Pharmaceuticals employees the heartache of making statements like “I love working for Isis” and “I’ve had my disagreements with Isis, but the benefits are great and the work is so important,” and, well, stuff like this:
Speaker at yesterday's symposium gets drug from @isispharm. Kinda disconcerting to hear him repeat, "we've been collaborating with Isis."
— Mike Feigin (@mikefeigin) November 21, 2015