Boehringer Ingelheim and Boston startup Rectify Pharmaceuticals signed a research and licensing agreement to advance oral therapies for chronic kidney disease, a partnership that could deliver up to $448 million in milestones. The deal aligns Boehringer’s development and commercialization scale with Rectify’s preclinical ABC kidney program and accelerates a push into oral CKD options. Boehringer will fund development work and gain licensing rights to Rectify’s assets, with the companies targeting oral small‑molecule approaches that could address disease mechanisms in CKD. The arrangement is part of larger industry efforts to expand chronic‑disease oral therapeutics and shore up kidney‑disease pipelines amid rising prevalence. Both parties emphasized clinical acceleration and patient access; Boehringer’s investment signals Big Pharma interest in nimble startups with preclinical assets and may influence follow‑on licensing activity in nephrology.