Press Release Details

BIOCRYST UTILIZING THE NATIONAL FLU SURVEILLANCE NETWORK™ AND ZYMETX’S ZSTATFLU^® TO TRACK INFLUENZA

Birmingham, Alabama - December 5, 2001 - BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq NM: BCRX) today announced that it will be working with The National Flu Surveillance NetworkTM (NFSN), a real-time influenza surveillance network, during the 2001-2002 winter flu season. NFSN, a service of ZymeTx, Inc. (OTCBB:ZMTX), identifies, tracks, monitors and reports the presence and prevalence of flu outbreaks via its Internet site at www.fluwatch.com. Under the agreement with ZymeTx, BioCryst will receive proprietary data from NSFN about the appearance of influenza around the country. This surveillance information will allow BioCryst to optimize enrollment in its planned Phase III clinical trial in the United States for RWJ-270201, an influenza neuraminidase inhibitor designed to treat and prevent viral influenza.

"Since NFSN is the largest disease surveillance network in the country, BioCryst will be better informed as to when and where the flu appears," said Charles E. Bugg, Ph.D., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BioCryst. "This surveillance information will allow BioCryst to concentrate on recruiting patients in the regions where influenza is present, which should increase the percentage of influenza-positive patients enrolled in the trial."

During the Phase III clinical trial of oral, once-a-day RWJ-270201, surveillance spotter sites will use ZstatFlu^®, a rapid flu diagnostic test, to closely monitor influenza activity in and around clinical trial sites. ZstatFlu is an easy to perform and unobtrusive test which detects both Influenza A and Influenza B with 99% specificity. The surveillance information will pinpoint localized outbreaks of influenza, thus allowing appropriate and timely activation of clinical trial sites. Meanwhile, surveillance sites will continue to monitor influenza activity during the enrollment period and once influenza activity decreases, clinical sites will cease enrollment.

"Utilizing The National Flu Surveillance Network and ZymeTx's ZstatFlu, the world's first point-of-care flu diagnostic test for rapid detection of both Influenza Types A and B, should provide a definition of flu occurrences. Having these data will result in substantial economic and time savings for BioCryst during their Phase III trial," said Norman Proulx, ZymeTx CEO/president. "The ability of the NFSN to assist a pharmaceutical company like BioCryst with identifying outbreaks of influenza represents an added-value function the network can perform as part of its normal activities."

NSFN is the nation's largest influenza surveillance system with more than 6,600 physicians testing for flu at more than 1,230 sites in all 50 states using the rapid diagnostic flu test ZstatFlu. NFSN physicians test their patients with ZstatFlu and post those results in virtual real-time over the Internet at www.fluwatch.com.

About the Companies

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. designs and develops novel small-molecule pharmaceuticals using structure-based drug design, an approach to drug discovery that integrates traditional biology and medicinal chemistry with a number of advanced technologies such as X-ray crystallography and computer modeling. BioCryst is focused on drug discovery and development of pharmaceuticals for the treatment of viral, inflammatory/autoimmune and cardiovascular diseases and disorders. BioCryst's most advanced drug candidate, RWJ-270201, is in Phase III clinical development for the treatment of viral influenza. Through our collaborations with academic institutions and with other biotechnology companies, BioCryst has several promising new enzyme targets in drug discovery including tissue factor/factor VIIa, hepatitis C polymerase, complement and parainfluenza neuraminidase. For more information about BioCryst, please visit our web site at www.biocryst.com.

ZymeTx, Inc., headquartered in Oklahoma City, is a biotechnology company engaged in the development of technology to produce products for the diagnosis and treatment of viral disease, viral management and disease surveillance. The company developed ZstatFlu, the world's first rapid point-of-care test capable of detecting both Influenza A and B, and NFSN, a network of physician sites across the country that use ZstatFlu to track influenza in their communities and practices. Additional information on ZymeTx and NFSN can be obtained by accessing the web sites at www.zymetx.com and www.fluwatch.com.

These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performances or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, BioCryst's Phase III development of RWJ-270201; progress with respect to continuing Phase III development; and developments with respect to clinical trials and the regulatory approval process. These statements reflect our current views with respect to future events and are based on assumptions and subject to risks and uncertainties. Given these uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Please refer to the documents BioCryst files periodically with the Securities and Exchange Commission, specifically BioCryst's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, which identify important factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those contained in the projections or forward-looking statements.