The announcement comes at the heels of November's release of Epocrates software compatible with the BlackBerry. According to Epocrates Vice President of Marketing, Michelle Snyder, the public interest in iPhone software eluded the company until now.

"I did not anticipate the amount of physician interest in the iPhone," Snyder said during February's Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society conference.

The drive for iPhone Epocrates began last summer when Steven Chang, a neurosurgeon from Stanford University, began circulating a petition on the GeekNUZ blog demanding the new software. In September, Chang provided Epocrates and Apple with a copy of the 35-page petition.

"Developing software for the iPhone is like developing for no other mobile platform," Epocrates Software Engineer Glenn Keighley said during the kickoff event.

While Epocrates has not announced a formal release date for the software, the company is currently offering a demo. The demo provides free online drug references for the iPod Touch and iPhone. The information includes facts regarding drug dosing and interactions, retail pricing, safety and monitoring awareness, and adverse reaction details. It can be viewed by visiting m/epocrates.com/iphone.

A live demo from the iPhone SDK event can also be viewed by visiting Epocrates.com.