Pros
Best benefits package I ever had. Some coworkers super friendly to work with. Onsite gym. Very class oriented, know your place and don't rock the boat.
Cons
CEO Stan Crooke considers himself a demigod. He wrote a book about his antisense process. We used to have once a year a little perk called "Coffee with an Exec" or in some cases "Breakfast with Stan" where new employees we would be invited to have a round table type interaction with one of the company exec's or with Stan. My first Breakfast with Stan set the tone and reality of what it was going to be like working at Isis (now Ionis) in a non-scientific support department as a minion, doing the grunt work for the elite. I remember one new employee asking Stan a question about something from Stans book. Stans reply to this new, green, employee, who only wanted to learn more about his new wonderful company was, paraphrased "the reason you don't understand what you are reading is because YOU DO NOT HAVE THE VOCABULARY TO UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE READING" , this said in front of 20 or so mixed new and old employees. I knew from that day forward, to never have a conversation with the CEO, or really any other of his higher upper echelon associates. When the higher upper echelon decides that you have rocked the boat more than they care for, they decide to give you the choice of either a demotion or a severance package with the argument that "YOU NO LONGER FIT INTO THEIR CULTURE" and that its probably best that you move on. Management gangs up on you, becomes Judge, Jury, and Executioner and you are left with the choice of staying in a demoted position that EVERYONE IN THE COMPANY knows is a punishment with NO Avenue for any kind of redemption or leaving the company overnight with them proclaiming "Well, so and so has decided to move on from ISIS and we wish them all the success in their new endevour". I saw this happen many many times not really knowing what or why people left, until it happened to me. The only positive outcome from my experience was that a month later, my boss was fired, a result of indiscretions on his part that led up to my mockery of a dismissal. Can you tell I'm a little pissed off with the elite of Isis!