Press Release

Maxia will continue to operate in San Diego as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Incyte.

Under the terms of the acquisition, Maxia will receive up to $28.3 million in cash and stock and up to $14 million in future clinical performance milestone payments.

Paul A. Friedman, M.D., Incyte's chief executive officer, stated, "With the acquisition of Maxia and the establishment of our drug discovery team in Delaware, we have advanced our drug discovery capabilities which are distinguished by our ability to take novel scientific ideas and efficiently turn them into proprietary compounds. With several fully-staffed drug discovery programs and a highly focused team of chemists and biologists well-trained in the rigors of drug discovery, we are confident that we can discover and develop significant new medicines."

Robert Stein, M.D., Ph.D., president and chief scientific officer of Incyte, stated, "We welcome the contributions, talents and insights of our new colleagues who have made significant progress in the discovery of orally active protein phosphatase inhibitors, an emerging class of drugs that potentially have valuable utility in treating a range of diseases such as cancer and diabetes." Dr. Stein added, "We believe Incyte's strong patent position in this area will complement Maxia's chemistry advances in the development of phosphatase inhibitors."

Maxia has a program focused on new approaches to treat Type 2 diabetes. The first of these compounds, which are novel insulin sensitizers, is in late preclinical testing. Additionally, Maxia has early stage discovery programs focused on kinases, which Incyte believes may be useful in the treatment of cancer and inflammation.

Magnus Pfahl, Ph.D., chairman and chief executive officer of Maxia Pharmaceuticals, stated, "We chose to align with Incyte because we share their desire to advance novel compounds rapidly into the clinic. We are confident that Incyte has the resources and skills to be successful and are excited to join this talented team."

About Incyte

Incyte is a drug discovery company that is using its expertise in genomics, medicinal chemistry and molecular, cellular and in vivo biology to discover and develop novel therapeutics. The company has three fully-staffed drug discovery programs underway focused primarily on the identification of new small molecule drugs for cancer and inflammation.

Incyte also has strategic alliances with Lexicon Genetics and Medarex focused on the discovery and development of protein therapeutics or antibodies to treat inflammatory diseases and cancer.

Incyte believes it has the largest commercial portfolio of issued U.S. patents covering full-length human genes and the proteins they encode, information that has become increasingly valuable to the discovery and development of new drugs and diagnostics.

Incyte uses, partners and sells this information to many of the world's leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and academic research centers to create novel, more effective therapies and diagnostics.

Incyte's executive offices and research and development facilities are located in Palo Alto, California, Newark, Delaware, San Diego, California and Beverly, Massachusetts. For more information, please visit Incyte's web site at http://www.incyte.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking statements as well as historical information. These forward-looking statements, which are included in accordance with the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, include statements as to Incyte's ability to discover and develop significant new medicines, the development and potential of Maxia's phosphatase inhibitors, the complementary nature of Incyte's patent position with Maxia's development of phosphatase inhibitors and the rapid advancement of other novel compounds into the clinic.

These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially, including the ability to successfully integrate Maxia, management of operations in remote locations, the ability to successfully complete clinical trials and obtain requisite regulatory approvals for new products, the ability to maintain and raise the capital necessary to continue Incyte's and Maxia's research and development programs, the impact of competition and changes in technology, changes in Incyte's business plans, and other risks detailed from time to time in Incyte's SEC reports, including its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2002. Incyte disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

CONTACT:          Incyte Genomics, Inc.
                  Pamela M. Murphy, 302/283-7735
                  650/845-4589

URL:              http://www.businesswire.com
Today's News On The Net - Business Wire's full file on the Internet
with Hyperlinks to your home page.

Copyright (C) 2003 Business Wire.  All rights reserved.