Isis Pharmaceuticals changes its name

Isis Pharmaceuticals is changing its name to avoid any unwanted association with the extremist group, the California company said Friday.

Its stock ticker symbol will also change from ISIS to IONS.

The name Isis Pharmaceuticals was originally derived from an Egyptian, who was associated with good health. The new ticker symbol will become effective at the open of the market on Tuesday, December 22.

Last month, D. Wade Walke, vice president of corporate communications and investor relations of the company, emphasized that Isis has so many negative connotations even if people know that the company is not associated with the terrorist group. “Before we changed the name, we had a lot of people taking pics and coming to harass me”, says owner Charlene Tse to the New York Post, “they said, ‘You have no shame!” StockTwits user Thorgood asked, referring to CEO Stanley Crooke. In early trade on Friday, shares of the company were little-changed.

She added that the company had chose to change the name of the company because when people hear or see the name, the company wants them to think of medicines that are life saving that the company is developing. From software companies to television shows, the word ISIS has become a pariah across the globe. So too has The Isis, the longest-running independent student magazine in the United Kingdom, produced by Oxford students including Evelyn Waugh, Sylvia Plath and Graham Greene since 1892.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals is known especially for its drugs for rare diseases.