Exhibit 31.1   Certification
Pursuant to Rules 13a-14(a) and 15d-14(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 I, Patrick G.
LePore, certify that: 1. I have reviewed this quarterly report
on Form 10-Q of Par Pharmaceutical Companies, Inc.;  2. Based on my knowledge, this quarterly 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; a 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 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 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 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:  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: August 4, 2009
/s/ Patrick G. LePorePatrick G. LePore
Chairman, President and Chief
Executive Officer