Exhibit 99.1

BIOCRYST RECEIVES ADDITIONAL NIAID FUNDING TO ADVANCE

DEVELOPMENT OF BCX4430 TO TREAT MARBURG VIRUS DISEASE

Research Triangle Park, North Carolina – December 30, 2013 – BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:BCRX) today announced that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has exercised an option to conduct the investigational new drug (IND) enabling program and to submit an IND. This option represents an additional $2.5 million to BioCryst in order to advance the development of BCX4430 as a treatment for Marburg virus disease. NIAID, part of the National Institutes of Health, granted an initial award of $5.0 million to BioCryst in September 2013. The total funding could be up to $22.0 million over five years and advance the program through Phase 1 trials, if all contract options are exercised.

“With these additional funds, BioCryst will rapidly initiate IND-enabling studies of intramuscular BCX4430,” said Dr. William P. Sheridan, Chief Medical Officer at BioCryst. “This is an important next step in moving the development program forward to an IND submission, leading to an initial safety trial in healthy human volunteers.”

The goals of this contract are to file IND applications for intravenous and intramuscular BCX4430 for the treatment of Marburg virus disease, and to conduct Phase 1 human clinical trials.

This project will be funded in whole or in part with Federal funds from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, under Contract No. HHSN272201300017C.

About the BSAV Program & BCX4430

The objective of BioCryst’s BSAV research program is to develop broad-spectrum parenteral and oral therapeutics for viruses that pose a threat to health and national security. The lead BSAV compound is BCX4430, an RNA dependent-RNA polymerase inhibitor that has demonstrated broad-spectrum activity for multiple viruses and a favorable preliminary preclinical safety profile. BioCryst is developing BCX4430 in collaboration with U.S. Government Agencies following the Animal Rule regulatory pathway.

About BioCryst Pharmaceuticals

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals designs, optimizes and develops novel small molecule drugs that block key enzymes involved in infectious and rare diseases, with the goal of addressing unmet medical needs of patients and physicians. BioCryst’s core development programs include

BCX4161 and two next generation oral inhibitors of plasma kallikrein for hereditary angioedema; peramivir, a viral neuraminidase inhibitor for the treatment of influenza; and BCX4430, a broad spectrum antiviral for hemorrhagic fevers. For more information, please visit the Company’s website at www.BioCryst.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding future results, performance or achievements. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause BioCryst’s 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 are 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 BioCryst or its licensees may not be able to enroll the required number of subjects in planned clinical trials of its product candidates and that such clinical trials, may not be successfully completed; that the Company or its licensees may not commence as expected additional pre-clinical studies or human clinical trials may not be commenced as expected or such studies may not be successfully completed; that the FDA may require additional studies beyond the studies planned for product candidates, or may not provide regulatory clearances which may result in delay of planned clinical trials, or may impose a clinical hold with respect to such product candidate, or withhold market approval for product candidates; that the Company may not be able to obtain additional funding for BCX4430; that government funding or other contracts for BCX4430 may have certain terms and conditions, including termination provisions, that subject the Company to additional risks; that the Company may lose current funding for the program; that the Company may not be able to continue development of BCX4430 for any number of reasons; that the Company may never file an IND for BCX4430; that any product, including peramivir may never be approved for any use by the FDA; that ongoing and future preclinical and clinical development may not have positive results; that the Company or its licensees may not be able to continue development of ongoing and future development programs; that such development programs may never result in future product, license or royalty payments being received; that the Company may not be able to retain its current pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners for further development of its product candidates or may not reach favorable agreements with potential pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners for further development of product candidates, including ulodesine; that its actual financial results may not be consistent with its expectations, including that 2013 operating expenses and cash usage may not be within management’s expected ranges. 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, and current reports on Form 8-K, all of which identify important factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those contained in BioCryst’s projections and forward-looking statements.

###

BCRXW

CONTACT: Robert Bennett, BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, +1-919-859-7910