Exhibit 31.1

CERTIFICATION

I, Arnold S. Lippa, Chief Executive
Officer of DOV Pharmaceutical, Inc. certify that:

| | 1. |  | I
have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of DOV Pharmaceutical, Inc.;
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| | 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;
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| | 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 registrant as of,
and for, the periods presented in this report;
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| | 4. |  | 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)) for                   registrant and have:
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| |  | (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 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;
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| |  | (b) |  | Omitted
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| |  | (c) |  | Evaluated
the effectiveness of 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
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| |  | (d) |  | Disclosed
in this report any change in registrants internal control over financial reporting
                           that occurred during registrants most recent fiscal quarter
that has materially affected, or                            is reasonably likely to
materially affect, registrants internal control over financial
                           reporting.
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| | 5. |  | Registrants
other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of
                  internal control over financial reporting, to registrants auditors and
the audit committee of                   registrants board of directors:
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| |  | (a) |  | All
significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal
                           control over financial reporting that are reasonably likely to
adversely affect registrants                            ability to record, process,
summarize and report financial information; and
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| |  | (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.
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|Date: November 14, 2003 |  | By: | /s/  ARNOLD S. LIPPA Arnold S. Lippa
    Chief Executive Officer and Secretary
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