First Comprehensive Chemogenomics System for Drug Discovery and Optimization Launched DrugMatrix™ Introduced by Incyte Genomics and Iconix Pharmaceuticals Palo Alto, CA, and Mountain View, CA, February 25, 2002 – Incyte Genomics, Inc. (Nasdaq: INCY), the leading genomics information company, and Iconix Pharmaceuticals, Inc., an industry pioneer in chemogenomics, today announced the commercial release of DrugMatrix™. DrugMatrix is the first comprehensive research tool in the emerging field of chemogenomics that enables researchers to select the highest quality leads and drug candidates at the earliest, most cost-effective stages of drug discovery and development. DrugMatrix is the result of a collaboration between Incyte and Iconix, together with development partner MDS Pharma Services, Inc. (TSE: MDS; NYSE: MDZ), a leading provider of innovative drug discovery and development solutions. Together, the companies have designed DrugMatrix to aid medicinal chemists, pharmacologists and toxicologists in accelerating drug discovery through drug lead optimization and reduction of drug candidate failure in clinical trials. The three DrugMatrix collaborators have brought together the previously isolated fields of chemistry, genomics, toxicology and pharmacology in a single highly integrated environment, providing a research tool that enables pharmaceutical researchers to ask fundamental questions in new ways to help predict the potential success, failure or optimal positioning of therapeutic programs. A series of DrugMatrix scientific presentations, product demonstrations and customer workshops will be conducted at the CHI Genome Tri-Conference in Santa Clara, CA, February 25-March 1, 2002. For more information on the conference, visit the CHI web site at www.healthtech.com. DrugMatrix represents a significant advance in chemogenomics, which profiles the interactions between chemicals and the genome. DrugMatrix uniquely integrates the pharmacopoeia of approved pharmaceuticals and failed drug molecules by profiling them in tens of thousands of standardized expression array and molecular pharmacology experiments. In addition, it is supported with extensive scientific literature annotation on known drug pharmacology, toxicology, and pathway interactions. The large scale and integrated chemogenomic content of DrugMatrix utilizes an advanced 3-tier database architecture, with a web-based user interface and bio-and chemoinformatics tools, to facilitate easy access and sophisticated data mining. "DrugMatrix holds great promise for pharmaceutical researchers," said Paul A. Friedman, M.D., Chief Executive Officer of Incyte. "The creation of this new comprehensive chemogenomic system should enable scientists to develop new generations of life-saving drugs faster and more efficiently while lowering overall failure rates. In addition, DrugMatrix complements our successful LifeSeq® product lines and our strategy to leverage the information business assets to support our own therapeutic discovery and development efforts." "In offering DrugMatrix, we are providing pharmaceutical scientists with the next wave of critical platform technology to leverage their investment in genomics. Our chemogenomic content and tools provide a fundamental bridge for genomics-driven drug optimization and development," said Keith Bostian, President and Chief Executive Officer of Iconix. DrugMatrix will be exclusively commercialized and supported by Incyte for subscription-based access. Together, Incyte, Iconix and MDS Pharma Services have created a high-throughput development engine for the chemogenomic profiling of DrugMatrix compounds. About Incyte Genomics Incyte Genomics, Inc. has the largest commercial portfolio of issued United States patents covering human, full-length genes and the proteins they encode and is leveraging its leading intellectual property and genomic information position to be a leader in therapeutic small molecule, secreted protein and antibody discoveries. In addition, Incyte has also 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 licenses pharmaceutically relevant intellectual property. These offerings facilitate pharmaceutical and biotechnology researchers in their 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. For more information, visit Incyte's web site at www.incyte.com. About Iconix Pharmaceuticals Iconix Pharmaceuticals develops integrated technologies that allow life science researchers to discover drug candidates for novel therapeutic targets and predict the potential efficacy, toxicity and other side effects of drug candidates at the earliest stages of drug discovery. Iconix also maintains internal drug discovery and development programs based on novel targets resulting from genomic studies. Iconix has established a portfolio of collaborators to advance its chemogenomic product development initiatives, including Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) and its Biochip Systems Division, Incyte Genomics, Inc. (Nasdaq: INCY), the MDS Pharma Services business of MDS Inc. (TSE: MDS; NYSE: MDZ), and Essential Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ETRX) For more information, visit Iconix's web site at www.iconixpharm.com. About MDS Pharma Services MDS Pharma Services offers a full spectrum of resources to meet the drug discovery and development needs of the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. With facilities in more than 18 countries, the company applies advanced scientific and technological expertise to each stage of the drug discovery and development process: discovery, preclinical, early clinical research (phases I-IIa), bioanalytical, global clinical research (phases IIb-IV), and central lab. MDS Pharma Services is part of MDS Inc., an international health and life sciences company. For more information, visit MDS Pharma Services' Web site at www.mdsps.com. Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this press release, including without limitation statements as to the impact that the new DrugMatrix™ product offering will have in accelerating the drug discovery and development efforts of pharmaceutical researchers and ultimately in bringing new medicines to market faster, at lower cost and with lower failure rates, the ability of Incyte's products and services to facilitate the research efforts of its customers, and Incyte's ability to leverage its intellectual property position to become a leader in therapeutic small molecule, secreted protein and antibody discoveries, 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 ability of the parties to provide products and services that meet market needs and that beat other substantially similar products and services to market; the impact of competition and the ability of the parties to compete against competitors that may have greater financial and other resources; the availability of the financial resources necessary to fund the parties' business objectives; changes in technology; unanticipated delays or other issues that impact the effective marketing and sale of DrugMatrix™; changes in the business plans of either party; Incyte's ability to obtain patent protection for its discoveries and to continue to be effective in expanding its patent coverage; 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, 2001. Incyte disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements.