Exhibit 32.1

STATEMENT PURSUANT TO

18 U.S.C. SECTION 1350

With reference to the Annual Report of Incyte Corporation (the “Company”) on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2003 as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on the date hereof (the “Report”), I, Paul A. Friedman, Chief Executive Officer of the Company, certify, for the purposes of 18 U.S.C. § 1350, as adopted pursuant to § 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, that, to my knowledge:

(1) the Report fully complies with the requirements of section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; and

(2) the information contained in the Report fairly presents, in all material respects, the financial condition and result of operations of the Company.

/s/    PAUL A. FRIEDMAN        

Paul A. Friedman

Chief Executive Officer

March 15, 2004