Isis Pharmaceuticals changes name to Ionis for obvious reasons

Isis Pharmaceuticals, which develops drugs for rare diseases, said Friday it changed its name to Ionis Pharmaceuticals.

While it didn't specify the reason for the name change, ISIS is the acronym for Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, an Islamic fundamentalist terrorist group.

"We decided to change our company name because, when people see or hear our name, we want them to think about the life-saving medicines we are developing," said Lynne Parshall, chief operating officer at Ionis Pharmaceuticals, in a statement.

The Carlsbad, Calif.-based company is also changing its ticker symbol to IONS from the current ISIS. The new ticker  takes effect Dec. 22. Its shares trade on the NASDAQ Global Select Market.