Year to Date 2006 Financial Results

Collaborative and other research and development revenues increased for the six months ended June 30, 2006 to $2,330,000 compared to $99,000 in the same period last year due to the same reasons noted above for the quarter ended June 30, 2006.

R&D expenses were $19,234,000 for the six months ended June 30, 2006, which included share-based compensation expense of $516,000 compared to R&D expenses of $10,438,000 for the same period in 2005.  The increase is primarily attributable to the progress made in our clinical programs for both peramivir and Fodosine™ and the costs related to the additional manufacturing and validation process for these two drug candidates. In addition, personnel related costs are higher due to the share-based compensation expense and the increase in headcount during 2006.

G&A expenses for the six months ended June 30, 2006 were $2,879,000 compared to G&A expenses of $1,423,000 for the same period in 2005. The higher G&A expenses were primarily due to share-based compensation expense of $661,000 increased headcount and additional professional fees.

Corporate Update

“The past several months have been an especially active and productive period for BioCryst,” stated Charles E. Bugg, Ph.D.  “Among the highlights were the recent receipt of a Special Protocol Assessment from the FDA for our pivotal trial with Fodosine™ in T-cell leukemia and a partnership with Green Cross Pharmaceutical Company in South Korea for the development of peramivir.  Additionally BioCryst presented Fodosine™ data at the American Association of Cancer Research; and with our partner Roche we presented clinical data related to BCX-4208 at the World Transplant Congress.  We continued to make clinical progress with peramivir, our influenza neuraminidase inhibitor and we were proud to add W. James Alexander, M.D., M.P.H. to our Senior Management Team as Senior Vice President of Clinical and Regulatory Operations and Chief Medical Officer;” concluded Dr. Bugg.

The company will sponsor a conference call at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, August 9, 2006 to discuss financial results and the status of each of our programs in more detail.  This call is open to the public and can be accessed live either over the Internet from www.biocryst.com or by dialing 1-800-289-0468 (U.S.) or 1-913-981-5517 (international).  No passcode is needed for the call.

About BioCryst

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a leader in the use of crystallography and structure based drug design for the development of novel therapeutics to treat cancer, cardiovascular diseases, autoimmune diseases, and viral infections.  The company is advancing multiple internal programs toward potential commercialization including Fodosine™ in oncology, BCX-4208 in transplantation and autoimmune diseases, peramivir in seasonal and life-threatening influenza and BCX-4678 in hepatitis C.  BioCryst has a worldwide partnership with Roche for the development and commercialization BCX-4208 and is collaborating with Mundipharma Holdings for the development and commercialization of Fodosine™ in markets across Europe, Asia, Australia and certain neighboring countries.  For more information about BioCryst, please visit the company’s web site at http://www.biocryst.com.

Forward-looking statements

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. 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. Some of the factors that could affect the forward-looking statements contained herein include that we or our licensees may not be able to enroll the required number of subjects in planned clinical trials of our product candidates and that such clinical trials may not be successfully completed, that BioCryst or its licensees may not commence as expected additional human clinical trials with our product candidates, that our product candidates may not receive required regulatory clearances from the FDA, that ongoing and future clinical trials may not have positive results, that we may not be able to complete successfully the Phase IIb trial for Fodosine™  that is currently planned to be pivotal, that we or our licensees may not be able to continue future development of our current and future development programs, that our development programs may never result in future product, license or royalty payments being received by BioCryst, that BioCryst may not reach favorable agreements with potential pharmaceutical and biotech partners for further development of its product candidates, that BioCryst may not have sufficient cash to continue funding the development, manufacturing, marketing or distribution of its products and that additional funding, if necessary, may not be available at all or on terms acceptable to BioCryst. 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, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K which identify important factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those contained in the projections or forward-looking statements.

#   #   #