Athenahealth gets antitrust clearance for Epocrates acquisition

Athenahealth, Watertown, Mass., has received federal antitrust clearance to acquire mobile application developer Epocrates for $293 million through cash and existing credit lines.

Epocrates, which has offices in San Mateo, Calif., develops clinical apps that will be able to directly access information in Athenahealth's electronic medical-record systems after the sale, company officials have said. Epocrates was named to the top spot in Modern Healthcare's inaugural Most Important Mobile Healthcare Apps competition last year.

The boards of directors at the two companies agreed to a price of $11.75 per share of Epocrates, which was a 22% premium over the closing price per share on Nasdaq the Friday before the deal was announced Jan. 7. On Monday, the Federal Trade Commission announced that the deal has received early clearance through the Hart-Scott-Rodino merger-review process.