Isis Pharmaceuticals ($ISIS) is changing its name after 26 years in business, taking up a new moniker that calls to mind "the life-saving medicines we are developing," the company said--and not a global terrorist organization. The company will from now on operate as Ionis Pharmaceuticals, changing its Nasdaq ticker to "IONS" effective next week. Investors and commentators had long suggested the company change its name to avoid confusion with the al-Qaeda offshoot ISIS, but founder and CEO Stanley Crooke repeatedly refused the idea, telling Jim Cramer in 2014 that "they can change their name." The company shifted its position last month after ISIS claimed responsibility for a series of attacks in Paris that left 130 people dead. Release