NHS patient data groups Arcturis and Akrivia agree £140m merger

Two major providers of NHS patient data to the pharmaceuticals industry are to merge in a £140m deal to give them greater scale in their battle with the American giant Palantir Technologies.

Sky News has learnt that Arcturis Data and Akrivia Health, both of which are based in Oxford, have agreed to combine.

An all-share deal is expected to complete during the autumn.

Investors and staff at the two companies are said to have been briefed on the proposed transaction in recent days.

The merged company will count 40 NHS trusts as customers, comprising data on over 20 million 'in treatment' patients and 100 million aggregated patient records.

Industry sources said the combined group would be Britain's largest 'real world' healthcare data asset, with particular strengths in oncology, neurology and mental health, immunology and cardiovascular health.

Between them, the two businesses boast partnerships with drugs industry giants including AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers Squibb, GSK, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis and Teva.

One source said on Friday that the merged company represented a sovereign British healthcare data group, owned and domiciled in the UK.

"This will be the largest sovereign NHS data aggregator and patient data health platform in the country," said the source.

The deal will come during a time of growing controversy over the role being played by Palantir in UK public services, including the NHS.

Recent forecasts suggested that the government has revised the likely cost of the NHS England data platform built by Palantir to as much as £1.1bn, while the expected financial benefits of the project have been cut, according to the Financial Times.

Palantir has also been embroiled in a row involving the London mayor, Sir Sadiq Khan, over its provision of services to the Metropolitan Police.

If successfully completed, Arcturis's acquisition of Akrivia will represent another phase of the former's renaissance.

Previously known as Sensyne Health, Arcturis came close to collapse in 2022.

Founded by Lord Drayson, the former science minister, Sensyne ran into financial trouble before being rescued through a £26m recapitalisation.

Under its current name, it recently raised £10m from funds including Lansdowne Partners and Salica Investments.

The precise management line-up of the merged Arcturis and Akrivia was unclear on Friday, although David Newton, the Akrivia chief executive, is expected to hold a senior position in the new entity.

Alex Snow, a prominent City figure who has run Arcturis since spearheading its rescue four years ago, is also likely to remain in a leadership role.

Mr Snow has run firms including Lansdowne Partners and Oxford Science Enterprises (OSE), the commercial group which oversees spinouts from Oxford University's academic endeavours.

Meanwhile, Akrivia Health was founded in 2019, when it was spunout from the University of Oxford and the NHS, having been built on the Clinical Record Interactive Search (CRIS) system

Arcturis declined to comment when contacted by Sky News on Friday, while Akrivia has been contacted for comment.

(c) Sky News 2026: NHS patient data groups Arcturis and Akrivia agree £140m merger