Exhibit 99

                                              Contact:

                                              Kori Beer
                                              Director, Corporate Communications
                                              ViroPharma Incorporated
                                              Phone (610) 458-7300

                 ViroPharma and Wyeth-Ayerst Provide Update on
                              Hepatitis C Program

Exton, PA, November 12, 2001- ViroPharma Incorporated (Nasdaq: VPHM) and Wyeth-
Ayerst Laboratories, the pharmaceutical division of American Home Products
Corporation (NYSE: AHP), today announced an update regarding their collaboration
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to develop treatments for hepatitis C.  The companies are engaged in a broad-
based discovery research and development program evaluating several different
compounds and approaches to treating this disease.

The first compound from the alliance, VP 50406, has now progressed through phase
2a clinical testing.  Preliminary analyses of results from these studies suggest
that drug plasma concentrations were below anticipated levels and the compound
did not demonstrate the desired level of antiviral activity.  Thus, efforts on
this compound will be halted in favor of a promising series of structurally
distinct follow-on compounds that ViroPharma and Wyeth expect to begin entering
clinical trials in the second half of next year.

"ViroPharma and Wyeth-Ayerst have a broad-based hepatitis C program with several
chemical series currently under development and we remain committed to rapidly
advancing additional product candidates into human clinical trials in the second
half of 2002," says Mark McKinlay, ViroPharma's vice president of research and
development.  "The studies with VP 50406 are only the beginning of our continued
efforts to develop treatments for this serious disease that focus on the current
target, as well as other important disease targets. Notwithstanding the
challenging nature of HCV, emerging new technologies will provide us with
important information that we can use to improve the likelihood of success for
additional hepatitis C product candidates that come out of our alliance with
Wyeth-Ayerst."

"The hepatitis C program with ViroPharma is a high priority for us.  We remain
confident that we are pursuing the appropriate disease targets and are extremely
optimistic about several new classes of compounds that are in the alliance's
pipeline," says L. Patrick Gage, Ph.D., president of Wyeth-Ayerst Research.
"With the advent of new molecular and cellular based tools, we are making
significant progress in advancing additional product candidates toward human
clinical trials."

ViroPharma Incorporated is committed to the commercialization, development and
discovery of antiviral pharmaceuticals.  The company is focused on drug
development and discovery activities in viral diseases including viral
respiratory infection (VRI), hepatitis C and RSV disease. ViroPharma's most
advanced product candidate, Picovir(TM), is in clinical development for the
treatment of picornavirus diseases, and is the subject of a new drug application
(NDA) that recently was accepted


for review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of VRI in
adults. ViroPharma also has product candidates in preclinical and clinical
development for the treatment of hepatitis C and RSV diseases.

Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories, a division of American Home Products Corporation
(NYSE:AHP), is a major research-oriented pharmaceutical company with leading
products in the areas of women's health care, cardiovascular therapies, central
nervous system drugs, anti-inflammatory agents, infectious disease, hemophilia,
oncology, and vaccines.  American Home Products Corporation is one of the
world's largest research-based pharmaceutical and health care products
companies.  It is a leader in the discovery, development, manufacturing and
marketing of prescription drugs and over-the-counter medications.  It is also a
leader in vaccines, biotechnology, and animal health care.

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements
relating to ViroPharma's efforts to develop product candidates for the treatment
of hepatitis C, ViroPharma's plans for advancing hepatitis C product candidates
into clinical trials and the availability of new technologies that may assist
ViroPharma's hepatitis C discovery and development efforts. The discovery,
preclinical development and clinical development of investigational
pharmaceutical products are subject to risks and uncertainties. There can be no
assurance that appropriate HCV product development candidates can be identified,
that planned clinical studies can be initiated in accordance with ViroPharma's
anticipated schedule or at all, that ViroPharma will be able to acquire
additional technology to assist its HCV discovery and development efforts or
that such technology will be effective in providing such assistance. These
factors, and other factors that could cause future results to differ materially
from the expectations expressed in this press release, include, but are not
limited to, those described in ViroPharma's most recent Registration Statement
on Form S-3 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.  The forward-
looking statements contained in this press release may become outdated over
time. ViroPharma does not assume any responsibility for updating any forward-
looking statements.

For information about Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories, contact:  Douglas Petkus,
610/902-7336 or Natalie de Vane, 610/902-7687.


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