Incyte and Guy's and St. Thomas' Hospital Trust Enter into Research Partnership to Study Osteoarthritis Palo Alto, CA and London, UK, August 14, 2001 -- Incyte Genomics, Inc. (Nasdaq: INCY) and the Guy's and St. Thomas' Hospital NHS Trust (the "Trust") in London, today announced that they have entered into a genomic research partnership to study osteoarthritis. Incyte will own the intellectual property resulting from this collaboration. Financial terms were not disclosed. Scientists at Guy's & St. Thomas' and at Incyte's European laboratory in Cambridge, UK will design and conduct a genetics study to clarify the role that genes play in the onset and progression of osteoarthritis, particularly in the knee. The Guy's & St. Thomas' team, headed by Consultant Rheumatologist Dr. Tim Spector, has extensive clinical data from patients with osteoarthritis of the knee over a ten-year period. Scientists at Incyte have also approached the problem of osteoarthritis by identifying a collection of novel and known genes from Incyte's Lifeseq® gene sequence database that could play a role in the severity and progression of osteoarthritis. The joint study aims to identify gene variants from Incyte's gene collection that correlate with osteoarthritis clinical symptoms. This will involve Incyte performing high-throughput gene analysis on the DNA samples from Guy's & St. Thomas' patient collection using Incyte's gene sequence and genetic variation data. Discoveries of any gene variants that predict the onset or severity of osteoarthritis will be useful to identify new therapeutic and diagnostic targets for osteoarthritis. "Guy's and St. Thomas' is a leading medical research institution, and we are pleased to be collaborating with them to design and conduct genetics studies that will aid the life science community in their understanding of osteoarthritis," said Roy A. Whitfield, Chief Executive Officer of Incyte. "Osteoarthritis is an important priority area for the development of high value information to aid in the treatment and diagnosis of this debilitating disease." Osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the most common arthritic conditions and affects at least 5 million people in the UK and over 21 million Americans. Most OA sufferers are over 75 years old and the number is expected to increase in the next decades with the general ageing of the world's population, making OA a major healthcare and economic concern. The disease is characterized by chronic and permanent erosion of cartilage in the joints of the hands, knees, hips, and cervical and lumbar spine. Currently available treatment options offer pain relief only. Despite treatment, many patients still suffer from joint tenderness, pain and stiffness. If the condition is left untreated, it eventually leads to the severe limitation of a person's movement, joint deformity and instability. Consequently, OA impairs patients' ability to perform simple daily activities and has debilitating effects on their overall quality of life. "Treatments for osteoarthritis disease are currently limited," said Dr Charles Wolfe, Director of R&D for Guy's & St. Thomas' Hospital NHS Trust. "Our collaboration with Incyte will further our understanding of the genetic basis of osteoarthritis, and accelerate our efforts to identify effective approaches for the early diagnosis, prevention and treatment of osteoarthritis." Guy's and St. Thomas' Hospital NHS Trust is one of the largest NHS Trusts in the United Kingdom. It brings together two internationally renowned teaching hospitals, each with long histories of medical excellence and innovation. Incyte has entered into similar research alliances as part of its strategy to build partnerships with academic institutions. They include the Baylor College of Medicine, the University of California- San Francisco, the Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht at the University of Maastricht (CARIM), the University of Cambridge, the Roy Castle International Centre for Lung Cancer Research and the Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah. Incyte Genomics, Inc. has developed the leading integrated platform of genomic technologies designed to aid in the understanding of the molecular basis of disease. Incyte develops and markets genomic databases and partnership programs, genomic data management software, microarray-based gene expression services, related reagents and services. These products, programs and services assist pharmaceutical and biotechnology researchers with all phases of drug discovery and development including gene discovery, understanding disease pathways, identifying new disease targets and the discovery and correlation of gene sequence variation to disease. In addition, Incyte has the largest portfolio of issued United States patents covering human full-length genes and the proteins they encode and is leveraging its intellectual property position to be a leader in therapeutic discoveries. For more information, visit Incyte's web site at http://www.incyte.com. Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this press release, including statements as to the ability of the collaboration to advance the life science community's understanding of osteoarthritis, the extent to which genetic-based research will assist in such endeavor, and the collaboration's ultimate success in expediting diagnoses, preventative measures and treatments for osteoarthritis, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially, including the impact of genomic information in advancing medical research; ; the impact of technological and scientific advances; the impact of competition and the ability of the collaboration to compete with researchers or research teams that may have greater financial or other resources; 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 March 31, 2001. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof. Incyte disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements.