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                                                                  EXHIBIT 31.1
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                                CERTIFICATIONS

I, Marc S. Hermelin, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer,
certify that:

1.       I have reviewed this Annual Report on Form 10-K of K-V Pharmaceutical
         Company;

2.       Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue
         statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact
         necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances
         under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to
         the period covered by this report;

3.       Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
         information included in this report, fairly present in all material
         respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash
         flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this
         report;

4.       The registrant's other certifying officer(s) and I are responsible
         for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures
         (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and
         internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act
         Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the registrant and have:

         (a)      Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused
                  such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under
                  our supervision, to ensure that material information
                  relating to the registrant, including its consolidated
                  subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those
                  entities, particularly during the period in which this
                  report is being prepared;

         (b)      Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or
                  caused such internal control over financial reporting to be
                  designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable
                  assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting
                  and the preparation of financial statements for external
                  purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting
                  principles;

         (c)      Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure
                  controls and procedures and presented in this report our
                  conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure
                  controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered
                  by this report based on such evaluation; and

         (d)      Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant's
                  internal control over financial reporting that occurred
                  during the registrant's most recent fiscal quarter (the
                  registrant's fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual
                  report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably
                  likely to materially affect, the registrant's internal
                  control over financial reporting; and

5.       The registrant's other certifying officer(s) and I have disclosed,
         based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over
         financial reporting, to the registrant's auditors and the audit
         committee of the registrant's board of directors (or persons
         performing the equivalent functions):

         (a)      All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the
                  design or operation of internal control over financial
                  reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect
                  the registrant's ability to record, process, summarize and
                  report financial information; and

         (b)      Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management
                  or other employees who have a significant role in the
                  registrant's internal control over financial reporting.

Date: March 25, 2008
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                                               /s/   MARC S. HERMELIN
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                                                  Marc S. Hermelin
                                        Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
                                           (Principal Executive Officer)

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