Senior Vice President of Development Employment Agreement

Exhibit 99.1

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact at Neurocrine Biosciences
Claudia Jones or Paul Hawran
(858) 658-7600


NEUROCRINE BIOSCIENCES ANNOUNCES THE APPOINTMENT OF
LLOYD E. FLANDERS, PH.D. TO THE POSITION OF
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF DEVELOPMENT

San Diego, CA, April 8, 2003 ? Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:NBIX) announced today the appointment of Lloyd E. Flanders, Ph.D. to the position of Senior Vice President of Development. Dr. Flanders brings over 31 years of biotech and pharmaceutical experience in the areas of research, new product approvals, product development and program management.

Prior to joining Neurocrine, Dr. Flanders served as the Senior Vice President, Technology Operations and Program Management at Elan Pharmaceuticals (formerly Dura Pharmaceuticals) from 1998 to 2001 where he led Dura's project management group and from 2000 to 2001, managed Dura's pulmonary delivery unit including the strategic design and implementation of state-of-art new product development methodology. Dr. Flanders also held the position of Senior Vice President Preclinical Development and Program Management at Ligand Pharmaceuticals from 1992 to 1998. While at Ligand, he established the preclinical development unit, implementing new program management systems and was instrumental in managing preclinical development activities which ultimately supported the filing of three New Drug Ap ...