EXHIBIT 99.1



   Contacts:
   ---------
   MEDIA RELATIONS                                     INVESTOR RELATIONS
   Jon Siegal                                          John McManus
   Ronald Trahan Associates (RTA) Inc.                 NeoTherapeutics, Inc.
   (508) 647-9782, ext. 15                             (949) 788-6700, ext. 247


          NeoTherapeutics raises $ 5.15 million in a private placement
                     led by Royal Bank Investment Management

IRVINE, Calif., March 13, 2002 -- NeoTherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: NEOT) announced
today that it raised $5.15 million through the sale of common stock to a group
of institutional investors led by Royal Bank Investment Management. The issue
price of $2.00 per share represents a 4.3 percent discount to the market closing
price on March 12, 2002. In addition, the Company issued warrants to purchase
common stock at a price of $2.75 per share. If exercised, these warrants would
generate approximately $1.8 million in additional cash proceeds to the Company.

"We are pleased to have such a strong group of investors demonstrate their
confidence in NeoTherapeutics through their participation in this financing,"
said Samuel Gulko, Senior Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer of
NeoTherapeutics. "The completion of this financing accomplishes our objective of
strengthening our cash position prior to un-blinding and reporting results from
our current pivotal study of Neotrofin(TM) in Alzheimer's disease. It will also
help fund the two phase 2 studies of Neotrofin(TM) in chemotherapy-induced
neuropathy, as well as the anticipated launch of a phase 3 study of our lead
anti-cancer drug satraplatin in prostate cancer."

"The fundamentals of NeoTherapeutics continue to improve, as we have implemented
our strategic plan to expand our product portfolio, which now includes six drug
candidates," stated Alvin J. Glasky, Ph.D., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
of NeoTherapeutics. "There has been much speculation in the marketplace about
recent pressure on our stock price. We believe that one source of pressure has
been our efforts to raise capital. With this financing behind us, we now look
forward to reporting the data from the Alzheimer's trial and to further progress
in the clinical development of our five other drug candidates."

NeoTherapeutics seeks to create value for stockholders through the discovery and
development of central nervous system (CNS) drugs, in-licensing and
commercialization of anti-cancer drugs, and the licensing out of new drug
targets discovered through genomics research. The Company has two drugs
addressing major medical needs in pivotal/phase 3 stage of development:
Neotrofin(TM) for Alzheimer's disease and satraplatin for prostate cancer.
Additional neurology and anti-cancer drugs are in phase 1 and 2 human clinical
trials and the Company has a rich pipeline of pre-clinical drug candidates. For
additional information visit the Company's web site at www.neot.com.





This press release may contain forward-looking statements regarding future
events and the future performance of NeoTherapeutics that involve risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. These risks
are described in further detail in the Company's reports filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission.

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