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                                                                  EXHIBIT 31.1
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                               CERTIFICATIONS

I, Marc S. Hermelin, Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, certify
that:

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

2.       Based on my knowledge, this Annual 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 Annual Report;

3.       Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other
         financial information included in this Annual 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 Annual Report;

4.       The registrant's other certifying officers and I are responsible
         for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures
         (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-14 and 15d-14) 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
                  Annual Report is being prepared;

         b)       evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure
                  controls and procedures and presented in this Annual
                  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

         c)       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 that
                  has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to
                  materially affect, the registrant's internal control over
                  financial reporting;

5.       The registrant's other certifying officers and I have disclosed,
         based on our most recent evaluation, to the registrant's auditors
         and the audit committee of 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 controls 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: June 14, 2004

                                           /s/  MARC S. HERMELIN
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                                              Marc S. Hermelin
                                 Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
                                       (Principal Executive Officer)