Streamlined Company Will Leverage its Multi-Platform Approach
                   to Discover Novel Drugs and Diagnostics

    RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., March 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
Biotechnology company Icoria, Inc. (Nasdaq: ICOR) announced today that it is
transitioning from agricultural R&D activities to concentrate on an aggressive
program to discover and validate targets and potential drug candidates for the
treatment of diabetes, obesity and liver injury. The company will leverage its
metabolomics expertise, gene expression profiling proficiency, quantitative
tissue analytics software and proprietary computational capabilities to focus
on biomarker-enabled drug discovery.
    The transition is facilitated by the sale of Icoria's agricultural
genomics assets to Monsanto Company and by an amendment to the existing
Monsanto contract. This transaction will have a $15 million direct impact to
Icoria, including cash consideration of $6.75 million, reduced lease
obligations of $5.2 million and $3 million in net cash flow benefit from the
amendment.  In addition, Icoria expects to yield $4 million in annual savings
associated with lower general and administrative costs.  Cash of $4.75 million
was paid at signing with the remaining $2 million due in January 2006.
    "This agreement is a win for Icoria's shareholders," said Steve Burrill,
Chairman of the Icoria Board of Directors.  "Icoria is now a streamlined,
pure-play healthcare focused biotech with a stronger balance sheet and a lower
burn rate."
    "The sale of the majority of our agricultural R&D assets to Monsanto is
highly strategic for Icoria," said Heinrich Gugger, Ph.D., President and CEO.
"It allows us to explore broader strategic options and focus resources on the
healthcare market and on our own program of biomarker identification and
biomarker-enabled drug discovery in diabetes, obesity and related disorders."

    New Company Direction
    "The Monsanto deal is a bold step that reduces the size of Icoria and
complexity of our business model," said Gugger.  "We will be lean and focused
with a much lower cost structure."
    Icoria, which ended 2004 with 188 employees, expects to have fewer than
120 by the end of the second quarter.  In addition to the approximately 60
employees that are expected to join Monsanto, Icoria recently reduced staffing
at its Pittsburgh office.  Approximately 20 Icoria personnel will provide
transition services to Monsanto through the end of the year.

    After the divestiture, the company's business activities will include:
     -- Biomarkers and Drug Discovery, which uses metabolomics, gene
        expression profiling and quantitative tissue analysis to identify
        novel diagnostics, drug targets, and drug candidates. These platforms
        are core to the company's internal discovery program but will also be
        available to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies through
        research partnerships.

     -- Paradigm Array Labs(TM), which provides GLP-compliant RNA preparation,
        transcript profiling and data analysis and microarray services using
        Affymetrix Genechip(R) Gene Expression Analysis Arrays, Agilent Oligo
        Microarrays and proprietary MirChip(TM) technology Icoria developed
        with Rosetta Genomics, as well as Laser Capture Microdissection and
        the ability to process paraffin-embedded tissues. Paradigm Array Labs
        is primarily a service organization, providing array processing on a
        fee-for-service basis, as well as supporting Icoria's internal
        development programs.

    "Despite the scientific success and commercial progress of our
agricultural business, we do not believe that the limited growth potential of
a consolidating agricultural market can support us in the long term," said
Gugger.  "We will exit the agricultural business after our contractual
obligations with Pioneer Hi-Bred and DuPont Crop Sciences draw to a close."
    "I am very pleased that so many of our people will be able to continue to
develop this exciting discovery platform under the auspices of a large, global
agricultural company," continued Gugger.  "Monsanto has more resources to fund
and develop the GeneFunction Factory(TM) platform in transgenic plant
applications than Icoria could hope to provide."

    Biomarker Enabled Drug Discovery
    Biomarker-enabled drug discovery represents a new approach that seeks to
develop safer, more effective drugs at reduced cost and risk by identifying
biological characteristics, or biomarkers, that are used to monitor drug
action, predict patient response and stage disease.  Icoria combines data from
a variety of sources to discover biomarkers that associate closely with a
disease state or the effects of a drug.  These biomarkers can be used in the
drug development process to select doses, stratify patients and provide
sensitive, early signals of drug efficacy or adverse response.
    The importance of biomarkers in guiding patient selection and medical
decision-making has been highlighted in an FDA guidance document called
"Challenge and Opportunity on the Critical Path to New Medical Products"
issued in March 2004.
    "Our biomarker and target discovery platform integrates gene expression,
metabolomics, and quantitative tissue analysis with strong capabilities in
computational biology," said Thomas Colatsky, Vice President of Healthcare
Research.  "We are already working with several pharmaceutical and
biotechnology clients to discover biomarkers using individual components of
our platform on a standalone basis.  In our internal development programs, we
use the combined analysis of all three data streams to discover unique
biomarkers and previously unidentified drug targets. These will become part of
an evolving portfolio of proprietary therapeutic products for Icoria."
    Icoria's internal development programs will focus on the diabetes and
metabolic disorders therapeutic area for three reasons: A critical need for
new drugs and diagnostics in a therapeutic area with a growing patient
population; initial research the company has done in preclinical models of
disease; and Icoria's extensive knowledge of liver injury and metabolism,
based on the company's gene expression, metabolomic and histomorphometry
studies.  Diabetes is also an area where Icoria's research staff has previous
drug discovery and development experience at leading pharmaceutical companies.
    "In diabetes, we are interested in biomarkers that may detect the disease
at an earlier stage than current tests. We are also interested in the role of
liver metabolism in the development and progression of insulin resistance and
obesity.  Our plan is to identify new drugs and drug targets that build on a
clearer picture of the multiple stages of diabetes and how it affects the
body," said Colatsky.

    Conference Call Scheduled
    Icoria's management team will conduct a conference call and webcast today
at 4:30 p.m. ET to discuss the company's new direction and Icoria's year-end
results.  Interested participants should call 1-800-289-0496 or, for those
calling internationally, 1-913-981-5519.  The conference call ID number is
4676929.  Icoria encourages participants to dial in 10 minutes before the call
commences.
    The webcast can be accessed from Icoria's web site at
http://www.icoria.com by clicking on the Investor Relations link.  For those
unable to participate in the live call, replays of the call may be heard
online at http://www.icoria.com or by calling (U.S.) 1-888-203-1112 or
(International) 1-719-457-0820 until midnight, March 28, 2005.

    About Icoria
    Icoria, Inc. is a biotechnology company that uses gene expression,
metabolomics and tissue feature profiling to identify biomarkers to accelerate
drug discovery.  In addition to its internal drug discovery program, the
company provides services to clients in the pharmaceutical, biotech,
agriculture, academic and public health research sectors, and has major
contracts with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and
Pioneer Hi-Bred International (a subsidiary of DuPont).  Icoria also has a
major grant from the National Institute of Standards & Technology's Advanced
Technology Program.  For more information, visit http://www.icoria.com .

    This press release contains forward-looking statements that include but
are not limited to the Company's expectations for its evolving business focus,
biomarker-enabled drug development platform and potential revenue growth.
Such forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations
and are subject to a number of risks, factors and uncertainties that may cause
be required by law.

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