Talk:Arrakis Therapeutics

First Paragraph Rewrite
Hello, I’m here as an employee of Arrakis posting my first edit request to this Talk page. I recognize that there have been edits to this page in the past that may have unintentionally not followed Wikipedia’s guidelines, so I’m here to only put forward content that is objective and well-sourced following proper Wikipedia protocols. Likewise, I understand that I have a conflict of interest, so whoever evaluates this request can read more about my COI on my user page. This request includes a draft of the first paragraph of the article that looks to replace the existing paragraph. In this new draft, there are a number of changes that look to improve this paragraph and utilize better sourcing to back up each claim: Please read below:
 * I've removed the list of companies Jennifer Petter and Michael Gilman have worked for previous to Arrakis, as that information is not pertinent to Arrakis.
 * I also removed references to co-founders Raj Parakh, Alan Walts and Henri Termeer, and no Wikipedia-accepted sources could back up this information.
 * I've introduced new sources including an article from the Boston Globe.
 * I've also removed the New England Venture Capital Association and Boston Business sources.

Arrakis Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company developing oral medicines that target RNA to treat a range of diseases. The company is based in Waltham, Massachusetts, and was founded in 2015 by Jennifer Petter, the company's Chief Innovation Officer. In October 2016, Michael Gilman, a former Biogen executive, was named CEO.

Thank you to the editors who take time out of their day to review this request, it is appreciated. I'll be ready to answer questions if there are any. DaphneArrakis (talk) 17:08, 14 November 2023 (UTC)


 * Jumping back into this thread to ping User:Wd Dabbir and User:Herravondure, who have both been active on this article in the past. If either has an interest in evaluating this request, that would be fantastic. Cheers! DaphneArrakis (talk) 14:14, 5 December 2023 (UTC)
 * @DaphneArrakis, I've implemented your request, with a few changes. The Boston Globe article didn't mention Jennifer Petter's name, so I added a C&E news article that was in the old version. Also removed the last reference as redundant. Made a small wording change (added "now" in second sentence) to make it sound better. Just wanted to check if this is fine with you before closing the request. Liu1126 (talk) 02:43, 10 February 2024 (UTC)

Second paragraph rewrite
Hi, it's Daphne back posting the draft for the second    paragraph of the Arrakis article. This time, I've made a handful of    improvements once again seeking to bring this article within Wikipedia's     guidelines, crafting a more neutral tone and using better sourcing. Please read below:
 * Removed the reference to Frank Herbert's book Dune
 * Removed the second part of the above sentence explaining that Arrakis was    founded in 2015 as one of the first companies for the purposeful discovery     of RNA, as it read as too promotional. Rewrote a following sentence     explaining that this is Arrakis' overall mission, however
 * Added a sentence that Arrakis received funding from venture capital firm    Canaan Partners, citing the Fierce Biotech source
 * Shifted the Pfizer and Celgene investments towards the top of the    paragraph
 * Introduced a new sentence explaining that other companies have discovered    drugs based on RNA but they were done by accident, utilizing the Fierce     Biotech source
 * Removed the sentence that claimed Michale Gilman said that Arrakis    intends to take a systematic approach, which reads as overly promotional     and speculative
 * Also rewrote the sentence where the company utilizes a bioinformatic    tool, adding that Arrakis also uses chemical biology tools to target     disease-associated RNA, citingthe Chemical & Engineering source
 * Added a new sentence at the end of this section noting Arrakis signed a    $190 million agreement with Roche to develop new drugs to treat diseases     like cancer citing the Boston Globe piece

In 2017, the company raised a $38 million investment from venture capital    firm Canaan Partners as well as Celgene and     Pfizer. Arrakis was founded to focus on purposefully    discovering RNA-targeting small molecule drugs. Other companies had previously discovered drugs based on RNA-targeting    small molecules, however, they were found     opportunistically. Arrakis has been able to identify RNA binding sites where small molecule    drugs can bind using a bioinformatics tool. The company also utilizes chemical biology tools to confirm whether    their compounds are inhibiting RNA cells, and also whether the compounds     are specifically targeting the disease-associated RNA. In April 2020, Arrakis signed a $190 million licensing agreement with Swiss multinational healthcare company Roche for exclusive rights to Arrakis' drugs developed to treat a range of diseases, including cancer.

If editors have any questions about this draft, or for the first paragraph request, I'll be open to responding. Thanks so much. DaphneArrakis (talk) 19:24, 21 December 2023 (UTC)


 * Jumping back into this thread to ping two editors who have been active on this article in the past: user:Wd Dabbir and user:Praxidicae. If either of you have any questions about either of the drafts I've proposed above, I'll be ready to answer. Thank you so much! DaphneArrakis (talk) 16:46, 19 January 2024 (UTC)
 * Just did a preliminary glance over the proposal. Only one issue, the wikilink multinational is a DAB page, it should point to multinational corporation instead. I'll finish verifying the sources and implementing the changes tomorrow (because it's 3 a.m. here), but ping me if I seem to have forgotten. Liu1126 (talk) 02:52, 10 February 2024 (UTC)
 * @DaphneArrakis, I've implemented your proposal without textual changes (except for the DAB page issue). As above, if there's nothing more from you I'll close this request. Also, are you aware of using the refname property in the reference tags to avoid reference duplication? I've fixed these using WPCleaner; see the difference in my latest edit. You can read more about it at WP:REFNAME. Liu1126 (talk) 12:41, 10 February 2024 (UTC)
 * Thank you so much User:Liu1126 for evaluating the pair of requests and implementing them, as well as fixing the duplicate reference issue. However, I do see that there are still two references that are duplicated in the article: the Fierce Biotech piece, and the Chemical & Engineering News piece. As I understand it, I shouldn't edit the article directly due to my COI, so would you please correct this issue if you have the time for it? Again, thank you so much for your help here. DaphneArrakis (talk) 18:50, 15 February 2024 (UTC)
 * ✅ Thanks for pointing it out (not sure why WPCleaner didn't pick them up). Liu1126 (talk) 18:57, 15 February 2024 (UTC)
 * Thank you so much! DaphneArrakis (talk) 18:08, 6 March 2024 (UTC)

Amgen request
Hello editors, I'm back on this Talk page with one more request. Just to be clear: I have a conflict of interest as I'm an employee at Arrakis, and you can read more about my COI on my user page. I noticed that the current article does not mention Arrakis' partnership with Amgen. I also see that the article has no information about the company's series B funding which got some coverage. I whipped up two sentences that add coverage of the Amgen partnership, and one sentence for the Series B funding, below. Ideally, the first short paragraph I'm proposing would be added at the end of the third paragraph to fit the timeline of events. The second sentence I'm proposing would ideally go at the very end of the article. Please read the Amgen request below:

In January 2022, Arrakis entered a partnership with biopharmaceutical company Amgen to develop oral drugs that target and degrade RNA. The deal landed Arrakis an upfront payment of $75 million from Amgen.

Please read the Series B request below:

In April 2019, Arrakis raised $75 million in financing to continue its development of small-molecule drugs that target RNA.

To the editor that evaluates this request, thank you for your time. I noticed that user:Liu1126 has been active on this article, so I'll ping them to see if there's any interest there. Thanks again. DaphneArrakis (talk) 18:10, 6 March 2024 (UTC)


 * @DaphneArrakis, I find the wording of the second sentence in the Amgen addition slightly unencyclopaedic in tone, primarily stemming from the use of the word "landed", which is more of an informal term. Do you think a rewording like this: "Amgen agreed to make an upfront payment of $75 million to Arrakis, with the possibility of further funding if research and development proceed as planned." would work (also including more information from the source)? Liu1126 (talk) 18:34, 6 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Thank you for jumping on this request so quickly. I believe your suggested change makes sense to implement. DaphneArrakis (talk) 20:37, 6 March 2024 (UTC)
 * I'm also a bit puzzled by your suggestion to place the Series B addition at the very end of the article. Would it not be more logical to put all the events in chronological order (at least until the article has grown large enough to warrant subsections)? In this case we would have the Series B addition right before the existing sentence on the Roche licensing agreement, and the Amgen addition after that, at the very end of the article. Liu1126 (talk) 21:12, 6 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Oops, you're right about that. I wrote it the wrong way around when I posted initially. You are correct in that the article should be in chronological order and the Series B addition should be right before the existing Roche sentence, and the Amgen addition then after that at the end of the article. Sorry about the confusion there, and thank you for spotting that. DaphneArrakis (talk) 14:28, 7 March 2024 (UTC)
 * ✅ I should be able to answer to future requests fairly quickly if you ping me, but if I don't respond for whatever reason, making a COI edit request like last time would better attract the attention of more editors. Do note, however, that the request queue is rather backlogged right now; it'll probably be months before we manage to clear it. Liu1126 (talk) 15:23, 7 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Thank you very much for evaluating and implementing this request, and yes, I will keep that in mind for the future. DaphneArrakis (talk) 17:56, 7 March 2024 (UTC)