EXHIBIT 99.1



           AKORN, INC. ANNOUNCES THE ELECTION OF THREE NEW DIRECTORS


Buffalo Grove, IL, November 20, 2003--Akorn, Inc. ("Akorn") today announced the
election of Arthur S. Przybyl, Jerry Treppel and Arjun C. Waney to its Board of
Directors.

On November 6, 2003, the Board of Directors of Akorn held a meeting at Akorn's
principal office to discuss, among other items, the composition of the Board of
Directors. At the meeting, the Board of Directors increased the number of
directors of Akorn from five (5) to six (6), accepted the resignations of Doyle
Gaw and Dan Bruhl as directors of Akorn, and appointed Mssrs. Przybyl, Treppel
and Waney to fill the vacancies on the Board of Directors until their earlier
removal, resignation or the selection of their successors.

Mr. Przybyl is the current President, Chief Operating Officer and Chief
Executive Officer of Akorn, having served as President and Chief Operating
Officer since September 2002. Mr. Przybyl joined Akorn in August 2002 as Senior
Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Prior to joining Akorn, Mr. Przybyl
served as President and Chief Executive Officer for Hearing Innovations Inc., a
developer of medical devices for the profoundly deaf and tinnitus markets.
Previously, he served as President and Chief Operating Officer for Bioject
Medical Technology, Inc., a small-cap company specializing in medical devices
for the needle-free injection of liquid medications. Mr. Przybyl is a current
member of the Board of Directors of Novadaq Technologies, Inc., a privately held
Canadian medical device company, and Advanced Spinal Devices LLC, a privately
held U.S. medical device company.

Mr. Treppel is the Managing Member of Wheaten Capital Management LLC, a capital
management company focusing on investment in the health care sector.  Over the
past 15 years, Mr. Treppel was an equity research analyst focusing on the
specialty pharmaceuticals and generic drug sectors at several investment banking
firms including Banc of America Securities, Warburg Dillon Read LLC (now UBS),
and Kidder, Peabody & Co. He previously served as a healthcare services analyst
at various firms, including Merrill Lynch & Co. He also held administrative
positions in the healthcare services industry early in his career. Mr. Treppel
is a current member of the Board of Directors of Able Laboratories Inc., a
generic drug company and of Cangene, a Canadian biotechnology company. Mr.
Treppel holds a BA in Biology from Rutgers College in New Brunswick, N.J., an
MHA in Health Administration from Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., and
an MBA in Finance from New York University. Mr. Treppel has been a Chartered
Financial Analyst (CFA) since 1988.

Mr. Waney is Managing Director and principal shareholder of Argent Fund
Management Ltd., a UK-based fund management firm that manages First Winchester
Investments, an offshore fund specializing in U.S. equities. Mr. Waney has over
thirty years experience in the U.S. capital markets in connection with various
investment funds. In 1965, he founded Import Cargo Inc. and Cost Less Imports
Inc., multi-store retail operations in the U.S. and Europe, respectively, that
were sold in succession to Pier 1 Imports Inc. In 1973, Mr. Waney founded
Beeba's Creations Inc., now known as Nitches Inc., a U.S. apparel importer and
wholesaler that went public in 1982. Mr. Waney is a shareholder of Akorn, and



may be deemed to beneficially own more than 10% of the outstanding shares of
Akorn's common stock.

In other changes, Akorn also appointed three new committees of the Board of
Directors. Jerry Ellis, Jerry Treppel and Ron Johnson have been appointed to the
Audit Committee, with Mr. Ellis named as Chairman; Mssrs. Waney, Treppel and
Ellis have been appointed to the Compensation Committee, with Mr. Waney named as
Chairman; and Mssrs. Ellis, Treppel, Johnson and Waney have been appointed to
the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, with Mr. Ellis named as
Chairman.

ABOUT AKORN, INC.

Akorn, Inc. manufactures and markets sterile specialty pharmaceuticals, and
markets and distributes an extensive line of pharmaceuticals and ophthalmic
surgical supplies and related products. Additional information is available on
the Company's website at www.akorn.com.

Any statements made by Akorn, Inc. ("we," "us," "our," "Akorn" or the "Company")
in this press release that are forward looking are made pursuant to the safe
harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The
Company cautions readers that important factors may affect the Company's actual
results and could cause such results to differ materially from forward-looking
statements made by or on behalf of the Company. Such factors include, but are
not limited to, risks and uncertainties relating to (i) the ability to generate
cash from operations sufficient to meet the Company's working capital
requirements, (ii) the Company's ability to avoid defaults under the covenants
contained in its new bank credit agreement with LaSalle Bank National
Association, (iii) the necessity of complying with various regulatory procedures
in the manufacture of drug products, (iv) the Company's ability to acquire,
develop, finance, test, produce and market new products, including the
availability of raw materials to produce products, (v) the Company's ability to
resolve FDA compliance issues at the Company's Decatur, Illinois manufacturing
facility and the outcome of other legal proceedings involving the Company, (vi)
patent protection for the Company's intellectual property or trade secrets,
(vii) the effects of competition for generic pharmaceuticals and from other
pharmaceutical companies, and (viii) other risks detailed from time to time in
filings the Company makes with the Securities and Exchange Commission including,
but not limited to, those risks referenced under the caption "Factors That May
Affect Future Results" in Item 7 of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for
the fiscal year ended December 31, 2002.