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Epocrates Files for IPO

• Posted April 18th 2008
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• by Janice

Epocrates, best known for its mobile clinical information decision support tools for medical professionals, filed a registration statement with the SEC yesterday.  The filing didn’t disclose terms, but it estimates that the company will raise at least $75 million in the offering.  Revenues for 2007 were $65.6 million, which represents a 33% increase over 2006.  However, elsewhere in the filing the company reports that growth in  subscriptions to US physicians was flat in the period.

Subscription sales to physicians and other healthcare professionals do not represent the only revenue stream for Epocrates.  They also provide “interactive information services” to pharmaceutical and managed care companies and offer physician panels to market research companies.  These additional sources of revenue allow Epocrates to provide free access to core drug reference and decision support databases, which helps them build loyalty among their user base. 

Epocrates has been in the news recently for creating iPhone-compatible versions of  its drug and clinical information products.  This development should help Epocrates maintain its cool factor among medical students and younger healthcare professionals. 

In a related development, news that UpToDate, a competitor to Epocrates, is on the market has been circulating.  We’ll fill in more details in an upcoming post.